UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 30) The Ministry of Labour records no outstanding issues as at 2019, as it relates to cases of inequalities in Pay. The Equal Pay Act 2012 guides the occasional handling of these matters, in addition to the ongoing data collection to track and monitor cases of this nature. The Ministry of Labour is committed to strengthening its efforts in raising awareness to the Equal Pay Act.
Para 31) The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis, under the Ministry of Labour, is committed to amend the Protection of Employment Act.1986 that would prohibit sexual harassment within the workplace, so allot proper adjudication and overall justice in matters of this nature. Additionally, the Ministry of Labour will seek to strengthen collaborations and consultations with the Department of Gender Affairs and the Royal Saint Christopher and Nevis Police Force (RSCNPF) as counterparts in administering justice.
Para 33. The Department of Gender Affairs has a significant responsibility in raising awareness; monitoring and improving the status of women and girls in the country through the implementation of a number of International Conventions and declarations.
Para 34) The Department’s priority areas include the formation of a National Gender Policy, the empowerment of women and girls, the reduction of all forms of gender-based violence, poverty elimination, governance and democracy, and programmes for men and boys.
Para 35) The Department of Gender Affairs functions under a policy framework, which is guided by international and regional commitments including the Sustainable Development Goals, Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Gender Equality Observatory, (CSW) Commission on the Status of Women in Saint Kitts & Nevis and the Belém do Pará Convention. It has responsibility to fulfil periodic international, regional and national reporting obligations.
Para 36) Within the last year Saint Kitts and Nevis completed and submitted the Beijing +25 Report, ECLAC Montevideo Report, MESECVI (Belém do Pará) Evaluation; and Gender Equality Observatory reporting.
Para 37) As part of the women’s empowerment platform, the Department of Gender Affairs administers a Prison Programme which aims to provide support and advocacy services for incarcerated women. The Prison Programme facilitates short term skills training and education for female inmates of Her Majesty’s Prison to assist them with their personal and career development e.g. entrepreneurship classes and agricultural training.
Para 38) The “Engaging, Empowering and Advancing Women” Entrepreneurship Workshop was delivered to a group of six women at the prison in September 2017. The women received intensive training to develop business ideas and business plans and learnt skills to start their own businesses upon their reintegration into society. Upon release, some women are faced with unemployment challenges, but with the assistance from the Department, employment has now become more accessible. One example includes an inmate who, since her rehabilitation, has successfully opened and operates a Day Care Centre. We are pleased to report that since the Prison Programme was restarted in 2017, there have been no repeated offences.
Para 39) In 2016-2017 the Department of Gender Affairs led a Gender Sensitization Project designed to provide the wider society with a more sophisticated understanding of gender; to improve gender mainstreaming in the public sector, and to enable the private sector to address and provide more substantial reporting about gender-related issues. Deliverables from this project included the creation of three sector specific training guides and a manual for use with adolescents, the private sector and focal point units within the public sector. Subsequently, 116 focal points across Saint Kitts and Nevis in the private and public sectors, and civil society were trained. Further gender sensitization training sessions were carried out in July and August 2018 respectively. Gender sensitization training continues to be delivered through the Department of Gender Affairs.
Para 40) After a Gender Equality Study was conducted in 2014, the results renewed the Government’s desire to complete a Gender Policy, and in 2018, the Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis restarted the consultative process towards its National Gender Policy. The general objective of the gender policy is to advocate for non- discrimination on the grounds of sex and to provide a framework that will assist the Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis in facilitating gender equality and empowerment. The policy will be structured in two parts: gender mainstreaming and gender setting.
Para 41) ‘Gender mainstreaming’ is a strategy embraced by the Government, and is an important initiative that promotes gender equality in institutions policies and programmes. The implications and interests of men and women are considered in order to address unequal social structures. Gender mainstreaming seeks to ensure that gender issues are addressed within the existing development strategies and programmes. Gender setting will seek to transform the existing agenda through the systematic application of a gender perspective. Other strategies will include gender sensitization, training, promotion, ensuring public ownership of the policy, ensuring data disaggregation, promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality, and establishing a gender responsive, monitoring and evaluating mechanism within government and other agencies.
Para 42) The Government recently received approval for additional funding, from UNESCO, to complete the drafting of said policy. The document is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2021 and will be presented to Cabinet for approval thereafter.


UN Compilation:
Para 22) Women are under-represented in decision-making positions and in political bodies, particularly in parliament. Women account for 20 per cent of the Federal Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis, which comprises a single National Assembly with 11 elected representatives of parliament, one of whom is a woman, and four senators, including two women. The Cabinet in Saint Kitts is made up of nine ministers, including one woman (11 per cent of the total). Of the six Cabinet members in the Nevis Island Administration, one is a woman (17 per cent of the total).

National Report:
Para 74) A Special Victims Unit was created within the Royal Saint Christopher and Nevis Police Force (RSCNPF) on 1 April, 2012, to deal with issues including domestic violence and child abuse, among others. On the island of Nevis, there are four police officers from the Special Victims Unit, which is linked to the Department of Social Services. According to reports, with the establishment of the Special Victims Unit, in the case of rape, reporting to authorities has "increased significantly".

Para 75) The Government offers counselling to victims of abuse and trains police, nurses, guidance counsellors and other government employees on domestic and gender violence.

Para 76) The Department of Gender Affairs in collaboration with the Police the government carried out public campaigns against sexual violence, through churches and workplaces, on radio, and amongst civil society.

Para 77) The Department of Gender Affairs has made available three general hotline numbers for persons seeking assistance for themselves or others with respect to domestic violence.

Para 92) The Domestic Violence Act 2014 enabled the Government through the Department of Gender Affairs to heighten awareness relating to teenage pregnancy, sexual education and violence against women and children.

Para 93) This legislation against child abuse, domestic violence classifies sexual violence, rape and incest as serious offences and establish appropriate penalties for the perpetrators, including relatives of the victim.

Para 94) The Domestic Violence Act 2014 further enabled the Government to adopt policies and legislation to combat discrimination and violence against women and children, particularly domestic and sexual violence.

Para 97) [The Equal Pay Act 2012] defines equal pay as a rate or scale of remuneration for work in which there is no element of differentiation between male and female employees.

Para 98) It ensures equal pay for men and women in the workplace and makes it an offence for an employer or his or her agent not to comply with the law.

Para 99) Moreover, the Act makes a provision for the removal and prevention of discrimination based on the gender of the employee in paid employment, and to provide for related or incidental matters.

Para 100) It empowers a court to order the payment of arrears of remuneration against an employer who is convicted of such an offence.

Para 101) Under the Offences Against the Person (Amendment) Act, 2012, rape is recognized as a criminal Act, rape is recognized as a criminal act, liable to penalties under the law. The maximum penalty for rape is life imprisonment.

UN Compilation:
Para 14) The subregional team stated that the Government was currently undertaking initiatives to open the way for encouraging more women into entrepreneurship through programmes supported by multilateral partners, such as the Economic Partnership Agreement. The People%u2019s Employment Programme, a poverty reduction programme, had also opened some space for entrepreneurship and asset-building among men and women.

Para 20) The subregional team noted that the Government was currently debating an amended Domestic Violence Bill 2014, which had had a second reading before Parliament, but that its adoption was still pending.

Para 30) The subregional team indicated that, although women participated fully in voting during elections and were very active in political parties, they were still severely underrepresented in political leadership positions, and there was only one woman in Parliament. It also stated that women comprised the majority of civil servants and held senior level roles within Government

Para 39) The subregional team noted that Saint Kitts and Nevis was currently subject to a standby agreement with the International Monetary Fund that left very little space for measures to address the harsh conditions facing the majority of the population, in particular women and children.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 6) JS2 recognized the efforts of Saint Kitts and Nevis in signing and committing to the following Conventions and international instruments: The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women; The Inter- American Convention on the Granting of Civil Rights to Women and the Inter-American Convention on the Granting of Political Rights to Women; The Beijing Platform for Action; The United Nations Millennium Declaration; and Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security.

Para 28) JS2 stated that in August 2014 the government had sought to amend the Domestic Act now retitled "The Domestic Violence Bill" (2014) which was still in draft form, and mentioned that one of the key provisions of this bill was the promotion of economic independence for victims in abusive relationships.

UN Compilation:
Para 8) Although the Government did not support universal periodic review recommendations associated with LGBTQI rights, Saint Kitts and Nevis has shown some openness to dialogue on the issue.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 6) Human Rights Watch (HRW) informed that, since Saint Kitts and Nevis’ last UPR, it has conducted in-country research that evidenced the discrimination, violence, stigma, and prejudice that beset LGBT people’s enjoyment of basic rights.
Para 7) HRW stressed that Saint Kitts and Nevis did not have any comprehensive laws that prohibited discrimination on grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation, including in the employment, housing, access to education, and health care contexts. In this lacking legal context, discrimination against LGBT people seeped into everyday activities, whether it was availing of services such as health care, school, or riding a bus, or social activities such as going to the movies or shopping. Discrimination in the workplace can also occur. Notably, LGBT persons who faced discrimination in any sector lacked any legal avenue to seek redress for themselves or accountability for perpetrators.
Para 9) JAI reiterated that international human rights law customarily protected the right to privacy and the right to be protected against arbitrary and unlawful attacks on or interference with one’s private and family life. One’s reputation or dignity are also protected. International human rights law further establishes that matters of sexual orientation and gender identity are protected by the right to privacy and the right to be protected against arbitrary and unlawful interference with, or attacks on, one’s private and family life and one’s reputation or dignity. By criminalizing same-sex activity in the penal code, Saint Kitts and Nevis violates these international obligations. Saint Kitts and Nevis are also members states to the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), which strives to increase human rights protections in the region.

UN Compilation:
Para 1) The United Nations subregional team for Barbados and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) noted that, during the 2011 universal periodic review of Saint Kitts and Nevis, the country received numerous recommendations to ratify or accede to various international human rights treaties and that, although Saint Kitts and Nevis accepted some of those recommendations, it had not ratified any additional core United Nations international human rights treaties.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 2) AI stated that in its first review, Saint Kitts and Nevis had not expressed a clear position on recommendations to consider signing and ratifying a number of core international human rights standards, including ICESCR ... AI asserted that the government had taken no action in this respect, and that the ratification of these treaties was still outstanding.