UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 75) United and Strong has been the main flag bearer when it comes to LGBT matters in Saint Lucia and amongst the leaders on that front in the region. In 2013 one hundred and ninety-nine (199) police officers attended a training session hosted by United and Strong in which issues affecting the LGBT community were openly discussed. This afforded the police the opportunity to gain greater knowledge on what has often been viewed as a taboo area, it is hoped that this experience will aid in better policing of LGBT issues.

Para 76) In 2014, United and Strong and the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force in partnership with several stakeholders, facilitated a successful human rights sensitisation programme. The aim of this programme was to ensure that in fulfilling their day to day duties that officers placed greater emphasis on ensuring equality for all persons.

Para 77) In 2015 further sensitisation training was done this time capturing a broader range of participants including officers from the Air and Sea Ports, Customs and Corrections, members of civil society and community service providers. This session was geared towards ensuring that law enforcement can become more humane, which in turn would lead to a reduction in the stigma surrounding the LGBT community and increase the protection for human rights defenders who work on the rights of LGBT persons.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 13) JS3 recalled that during its first review, the Government rejected recommendations to decriminalize consensual relations between consenting same sex adults and deferred the matter to the then pending report of the Constitutional Reform Committee. This report had considered decriminalizing sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex, without making specific recommendations. Additionally, the report had not taken into account recommendations that sexual orientation be afforded any constitutional protection but had recommended that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation be addressed under separate legislation.

National Report:
Para 25) Saint Lucia acceded to the Palermo Protocol on the 16th of July 2013, the Counter-Trafficking Act was enacted to give effect and to implement the said Protocol in 2010. Also Saint Lucia has established a National Task Force to deal with matters related to the trafficking of persons.

National Report:
Para 8) In 2020, the GOSL ensured that the rights of those with disabilities were top priority through its ratification of the CRPD and the accession to its OP.
Para 2) … in June 2020 it had ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and had requested technical assistance from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to support the implementation of the Convention.

UN Compilation:
Para 11) The subregional team observed that same-sex relations between consenting adults were illegal in Saint Lucia. The crime of “buggery” carried a maximum sentence of 10 years and the crime of “indecency” carried a potential sentence of 5 to 10 years. The subregional team recommended that Saint Lucia decriminalize consensual sexual activity between persons of the same sex.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 5) Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that Saint Lucia did not have comprehensive laws that prohibited discrimination on grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation. HRW indicated that during the previous cycle of the universal periodic review, Saint Lucia had not supported recommendations to repeal legislation that discriminated against LGBT and intersex people or recommendations to decriminalize consensual sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex. Section 131 of Saint Lucia’s 2006 Labour Act did prohibit employers from “unfairly dismissing” a person on the basis of their sexual orientation, but did not prohibit such dismissal on the basis of gender identity.
Para 7) HRW noted that Section 133 of Saint Lucia’s Criminal Code on “buggery” criminalized consensual same-sex conduct. Additionally, Section 132 of the Criminal Code on “gross indecency” exempted from punishment any act “committed in private between an adult male person and an adult female person, both of whom consent” but did not protect private acts between same-sex couples. JS2 made similar observations noting that the penalty for buggery was imprisonment for ten years.
Para 8) HRW stated that while buggery and gross indecency laws in Saint Lucia were seldom enforced against consenting persons, their impact was pernicious. Laws criminalizing same-sex conduct reinforced already-existing societal prejudices, effectively giving social and legal sanction for discrimination, violence, stigma, and prejudice against LGBT individuals. JAI made similar observations indicating that LGBTQ+ citizens faced verbal harassment on a daily basis, and even physical threats. JAI added that they were also often denied access to healthcare, the job market, and protection from the police.

National Report:
Para 15) Gender-based violence (GBV) is considered to be one of the most persistent and under-reported crimes in Saint Lucia. The GOSL has adopted a multisectoral approach in combatting this scourge. In 2019, through the Essential Services Programme, the Division of Gender Relations in collaboration with the Women’s Support Centre embarked on the establishment and training of individuals within various communities in Saint Lucia to provide support through information and other resources to victims and persons at risk of domestic violence. Saint Lucia has also benefited from the Strengthening State Accountability Project for ending gender-based violence in the Caribbean by UN Women and Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP). Through this project a data gathering tool was designed and adopted. The tool systematically collects data from the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, the Women’s Support Centre the Saint Lucia Crisis Centre and the Family Court. Not all agencies are fully compliant with the systematic sharing of data and it was noted that there was limited capacity of the Division of Gender Relations to analyse and use the data gathered. Recent commitments from UN ECLAC to support data management in Saint Lucia is intended to improve the Division’s capacity and that of the Gender Focal Points in relevant departments in that regard.
Para 16) In 2016, Saint Lucia was supported by United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) Multi-Country Office in Barbados in collaboration with the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ThACCP). The ThACCP completed the National Plan/Partnership for Action to end gender-based violence in 2019 to produce a National Plan/Partnership of Action (NPA) to end gender-based violence in Saint Lucia. A national consultation on gender-based violence was convened in March 2019 to initiate the necessary processes to catalyze systemic change. A comparative review of existing legislation nationally, regionally and internationally with proposed legislation was completed in September 2019. The review was conducted through technical assistance from Sisters for Change through the Equality and Justice Alliance Initiative.
Para 17) This new legislation is expected to be submitted to Cabinet in 2020 and will define domestic violence, provide recourse for all victims of domestic violence regardless of marital status, living arrangements, sex and other factors prohibiting access to justice in the existing legislation.
Para 18) In the last five years, the Government of Saint Lucia has developed strategies aimed at preventing violence against women and girls, in primary and secondary schools. The Health and Family Life Education and the Good Touch Bad Touch programmes continue at all public schools. Youth A.R.T (Active Response Team) is an initiative undertaken by the Division of Gender Relations in collaboration with select secondary schools. It promoted the concept of healthy relationships among students from 11 to 17 years in an effort to reverse the trend of dating violence.
Para 19) As a second level of prevention, Family Court has introduced a Violence Intervention programme called Partnership For Peace which is a psycho-educational perpetrator programme particularly for men who are perpetrators of domestic violence. Furthermore, the Bordelais Correctional Facility has also engaged in a number of social programmes for inmates including one programme aimed at uniting incarcerated fathers with their children through the organising of family days at the facility.
Para 20) The COVID-19 pandemic has also created a need for psycho-social support as mental health crises and domestic violence of persons has been on the increase. Through the assistance of the Government of Canada and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the GOSL has implemented the Enabling, GenderResponsive Disaster Recovery, Climate and Environmental Resilience in the Caribbean (EnGenDER) Project. The Project focuses on actions which address gender-based violence and gender vulnerabilities that became more pervasive as result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Project will be used to support the implementation of income supplemental initiatives which benefitted women in the informal sector, women farmers and women living with disabilities. Assistance also focused on the provision of psycho-social support training for essential workers to address gender-based violence.

UN Compilation:
Para 37) The subregional team indicated that Saint Lucia had supported recommendations to address domestic violence and gender-based violence – a critical, persistent human rights challenge in the region. It noted that the country was implementing measures to that end, and noted a number of initiatives that had been adopted on the issue.
Para 38) The subregional team noted, nevertheless, that the number of cases of violence against women that were prosecuted was 1.21 per cent of all cases. The subregional team also indicated that the Penal Code 2003 (Revision of the Criminal Code (2003)) punished sexual violence within marriage only when rape occurred in divorced or separated couples.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 36) JS2 noted that Saint Lucia had accepted recommendations on gender-based violence including on domestic violence, sexual violence and marital rape. JS2 indicated that these recommendations involved different actions to be taken by various government areas and included practical steps, measures, policies and legislative framework modifications but that none of those recommendations had been fully implemented.
Para 37) JS2 added that domestic violence remained a significant problem, but noted that there had been no prosecutions of crimes of gender-based violence during 2018. While police were willing to arrest offenders, the Government prosecuted crimes of violence against women only when the victim pressed charges. The Gender Relations Department identified lack of training in trauma-specific interview techniques as a major problem for evidence collection.
Para 38) JS2 indicated that, according to statistics, incidents of rape in Saint Lucia were much higher than incidents of rape on a global scale and violence against women was disturbingly high. JS2 highlighted that the law criminalized spousal rape only when a couple was divorced or separated or when a protection order had been issued by the Family Court. Two recommendations on this topic had been received and accepted in previous reviews, however, there had been no developments on this issue.
Para 39) JS2 observed that though the legal framework could be improved, the biggest problems were the inconsistent application of the law in practice, and the approach of individual judges, police officers, social workers, medical staff, educational workers and other professionals who were the contact points of victims. JS2 indicated that quality and well-established multisector cooperation of all relevant stakeholders in the field of violence prevention and control was necessary.