St. Vincent and the Grenadines Stakeholder Report for the United Nations Universal Periodic Review: LGBTIQ+ Rights
Country: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Partners: Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE), ILGA–North America and the Caribbean (ILGA-NAC), Jason Jones People's Foundation, Khaleem Ali
Issues: LGBTIQ+ Rights
Mechanism: UN Universal Periodic Review
Report Type: Stakeholder Report
The criminalization of consensual same-sex sexual activity (“CSSSA”) between adults significantly impacts the lives of those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and other gender or sexual minorities (“LGBTIQ+”) in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (the “State”). Namely, it contributes to the risk of violence, discrimination, social exclusion, and lack of protection from law enforcement. LGBTIQ+ individuals also report widespread harassment in public spaces, schools, workplaces, and within their families. The State lacks legal protection for LGBTIQ+ people against discrimination in housing, education, and employment. The laws do not provide transgender and non-binary individuals with legal gender recognition; do not prohibit, or otherwise, regulate so-called “conversion therapies;” do not prohibit medically unnecessary interventions aimed at modifying the sex characteristics of intersex minors without their free, prior, and full informed consent; nor may same-sex couples register their partnerships as a civil union or marriage. First-hand information from LGBTIQ+ Vincentians, gathered through interviews and reports by international organizations, shows the Government has failed to uphold its human rights obligations regarding sexual and gender minorities in several key areas— resulting in widespread violence, stigma, and marginalization. The Government, now under new leadership for the first time in almost 30 years – with a supermajority in the Parliament – has the opportunity to advance an inclusive legislative agenda.
In this report, we use the acronym LGBTIQ+ to refer to individuals who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and other sexual and gender minorities. These terms necessarily do not include everyone who may experience violations of their human rights on the basis of their real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and/or sex characteristics (“SOGIESC”), which is why we also include a “+” with the acronym. Any use of a modified acronym is intentional in that we are speaking only about certain members of the LGBTIQ+ population
