SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS: National Laws

Summary: General overview of Saint Kitts and Nevis' national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.

National laws on children's rights

Status of the CRC in national law
In Saint Kitts and Nevis, ratified treaties including the Convention on the Rights of the Child are not considered part of the national legal system unless they are incorporated through domestic legislation. The CRC has not yet been fully incoporated, meaning that its provisions are not directly enforceable in court and do not take precedence over national legislation. Nonetheless, courts can look to the CRC and other treaties for interpretive guidance, and the Privy Council, which holds appellate jurisdiction over the islands, interprets law in light of international obligations but would not set aside domestic legislation where there is a clear conflict with a treaty or convention.

Constitution: Chapter II of the Constitution of St. Kitts and Nevis contains a number of rights that apply regardless of age, but makes only one specific references to the rights of children. There are provisions throughout the rest of the Constitution that relate to children, though they are not children's rights provisions, per se:

• Art. 15: prohibits discriminatory laws, including on the basis of the birth of a child out of wedlock
• Art. 88(5): and 89(5): make reference to children with regards to provisions on pension benefits
• Art. 90(h): provides for the inheritance of nationality
• Art. 92(1)g): provides for the citizenship rights of persons under eighteen years of age
• Art. 119(1): defines a child as "a person of whom that other person is a parent"

Legislation: There is no consolidated Children's Act in national law; rather, legislation relevant to children's rights can be found in a variety of sources. Relevant legislation includes, but is by no means limited to:

• The Juvenile Act (Cap. 39)
• The Status of Children Act 1983 (amended 2008)
• The Employment of Children (Restriction) Act 1966 (amended 2002)
• The Corporal Punishment Act 1967
• The Age of Majority Act 1983
• The Probation and Child Welfare Board Act 1994
• The Education Act 1975
• The Social Development Assistance Act 1998
• The Guardianship of Infants Act (Cap. 323)

Legal Research:
The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis maintains an official website offering basic information about the country's political system (http://www.gov.kn/mp.asp?mp=1).  The World Law Guide (http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/oeur/lxweskn.htm) and the International Labour Organisation's NATLEX database (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=KNA) provide links to a selection of national legislation in English. The Constitution is available in English through the website of Georgetown University (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Kitts/kitts.html). In addition, the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/stkitts.php) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/kn) provide links to a selection of legal and governmental resources.

Case Law
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Case Law Research
Case law from the national courts of St. Kitts and Nevis is not readily available online.  However, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court publishes its judgements in English (http://www.eccourts.org/judgments.html), and the British and Irish Legal Institute publishes the case law of the Privy Council in English (http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/).

Compliance with the CRC
St. Kitts and Nevis has not reported to the Committee on the Rights of the Child since 1999, and as such it is difficult to comment on the compliance of the State's current laws with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nevertheless, at the time of the last report, the Committee welcomed some legal reforms, notably the Probation and Child Welfare Board Act, but noted that domestic legislation did not fully reflect the principles and provisions of the Convention. The Committee urged the State to undertake a range of legal reforms on children's rights issues, and recommended that the State consider enacting a comprehensive children's rights code.

In depth analysis
At the time of St. Kitts and Nevis' 1999 report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Committee considered that several areas of the country's juvenile justice practices were incompatible with the CRC. The Committee expressed particular concern at the low age of criminal responsibility (8 years), the legality of corporal punishment of children as a judicial penalty and the detention of minors in adult detention facilities. The Committee recommended that the State engage in widespread reforms with regards to juvenile justice to address these concerns. It has been more than ten years since this report was published, but research undertaken as part of CRIN's Inhuman Sentencing campaign indicates that very limited reform has been made in this area. The minimum age of criminal responsibility remains 8 years, and the laws relating to the judicial corporal punishment of children are still in force.

The Committee also expressed concern at the practise and legality of corporal punishment in a broader context, including in the home and at school. The Committee recommended that the State institute an explicit and unequivocal prohibition of such punishment in all settings. As of January 2012, no such prohibition had been enacted.

With regards to adoption, the Committee expressed concern that there were insufficient legislation, policies and institutions in place to monitor and regulate inter-country adoption, and recommended that the State implement procedures to address the matter.

Current legal reform projects
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any current legal reform projects.