St. Vincent and the Grenadines | Caribbean SRHR Observatory

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Gender Affairs Division of the Ministry of National Mobilization
Gender Equality Commission, 2017
Royal Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force
Domestic Violence Crisis Centre in 2012, incl. short-term accommodation for victims of domestic violence and trafficking

No specific legislation that addressed discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or social status.
Access to justice for women and girls continued to be a hindered process due to lack of resources, empathy and general understanding of women’s and girls’ issues. The law does not transparently prohibit marital rape.
Despite all the laws, protocols and protections in place and the creation if the Anti Trafficking in Persons Unit in 2012, human trafficking remained an issue in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

There is no existing legislation addressing the issue of sexual harassment.
The 2015 Domestic Violence Act, had not been amended despite the criticism on the financial burden it placed on victims and on the undefined role of the crisis centre. Domestic violence is not recognized as a criminal offence under the Domestic Violence Act.
Despite the establishment of a Sexual Offences Unit within the Criminal Investigation Department, there was mistrust in reporting incidents of gender-based violence and sexual abuse to police officers and many of such cases were not effectively reported.
The Marriage Act provides a minimum legal age for marriage 15 years for girls and 16 years for boys.
Corporal punishment of children is still lawful despite repeated recommendations to prohibit it by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Access to justice for women and girls continued to be a hindered process due to lack of resources, empathy and general understanding of women’s and girls’ issues.
No Ombudsman or a human rights institution of any kind and recommended that the country establish, with the support of international partners, a national human rights institution in accordance with the Principles Relating to the Status of National Institutions (Paris Principles).

Vincent and the Grenadines, Country report, Third round. Follow-up mechanism oea/ser.l/ii.7.10 Convention of Belém do Pará (MESECVI) MESECVI/CEVI/doc.270/17, Fourteenth Meeting of the Committee of Experts (CEVI) November 21, 2017
National Report St. Vincent and the Grenadines, May, 2019. Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and Adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995)
National Report St. Vincent and the Grenadines, on the implementation of Montevideo, 2019
National report St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Human Rights Council, Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, 39th Session, November 2021
Summary of Stakeholders’ submissions on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Human Rights Council, Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, 39th Session, November 2021
Vincent Planned Parenthood Association (SVPPA), 2021, submissions on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Human Rights Council, Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, 39th Session, November 2021
Corporal punishment of children in St. Vincent and the Grenadines: Briefing for the Universal Periodic Review, 39th Session, November 2021, Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, 2020
Joint Submission of the United Nations Sub-regional Team for Barbados and the OECS (UNST) for the 3^rd Cycle of the UPR of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 39th Session, November 2021