Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: General overview of Saint Lucia's 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 Constitution: Chapter I of the Constitution contains a number of rights provisions that apply to children as to any other person. There are also a number of provisions that make specific reference to children in this Chapter and throughout the rest of the Constitution: Legislation: There is not a comprehensive Children's Act in the laws of Saint Lucia, though the Children and Young Persons Act does include a large proportion of the legislation relating to children. Provisions relevant to the rights of children can be found in a large number of Codes, Acts and Ordinances including, but by no means limited to: Legal Research: Case Law Case Law Research Compliance with the CRC In depth analysis Economic exploitation of children, including child labour, was also an area of national law that fell short of the provisions of the CRC in 2005. The Committee noted an absence of provisions in domestic legislation to classify hazardous and non-hazardous work, as well as a lack of regulation guiding the appropriate conditions of employment for children. The Committee urged the State to adopt a comprehensive legal framework on children engaged in the workforce in compliance with Article 32 of the CRC. The Labour Code has been reformed since this recommendation, but has not yet been examined by the Committee. With regards to the abuse of children, the Committee noted the absence of legal provisions on sexual abuse and exploitation that specifically refer to male children, and recommended that the State amend its legislation to ensure that boys are equally protected from such abuse and exploitation as girls. The Committee also raised concerns over the legality, social acceptability and prevalence of corporal punishment in the country, and recommended that legislation be implemented to prohibit such violence in the family, schools and other institutions. Current legal reform projects
International treaties, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, must be incorporated into Saint Lucian law through further domestic legislation in order to create enforceable rights. The CRC has not been directly incorporated in this manner, and so does not prevail over national law. Nonetheless, the CRC can be and has been cited for interpretive guidance by national and regional courts with jursidiction over Saint Lucia.
The website of Saint Lucia's official gazette maintains a record of all national legislation, though prints are only available for a fee (http://www.slugovprintery.com/index.php/publications/laws/0). The World Law Guide (http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/oeur/lxweslu.htm) provides links to a selection of domestic legislation in English, as does the International Labour Organisation's NATLEX database (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=LCA). The Constitution is available in English through the website of Georgetown University (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Lucia/Luc78.html). In addition, the GlobaLex project at New York University has published a guide to legal research in the Caribbean (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Caribbean1.htm), and the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/stlucia.php) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/lc/) both provide links to a selection of relevant legal and governmental resources.
CRC Jurisprudence
The High Court of St. Lucia cited article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (the opinion of the child) in Grant v. Grant with regards to a custody dispute.
Decisions from the national courts of Saint Lucia are not readily available online free of charge. On a regional level, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court publishes its case law in English (http://www.eccourts.org/judgments.html), as does the Commonwealth Legal Information Institute (http://www.commonlii.org/int/cases/ECarSC/). The British and Irish Legal Information Institute publishes the case law of the Privy Council (http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/).
In its Concluding Observations of 2005, the Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed a number of legislative reforms in Saint Lucia, particularly the Family Court Act and the Domestic Violence Act, but expressed concern that "existing legislation does not fully reflect the principles and provisions of the Convention, for example regarding non-discrimination, corporal punishment and juvenile justice."
Several more specific concerns as to the compatibility of national law with the Convention also emerged from the Committee's 2005 Observations, particularly with regards to juvenile justice. The Committee raised particular concern over the lack of relevant legal provisions addressing females under 18 in conflict with the law, the legality of life imprisonment for offences committed by children aged 16 and 17 and the lack of rehabilitative and social reintegration measures in the juvenile justice system. Accordingly, the Committee recommended the abolition of life imprisonment for all persons under 18; avoiding the criminalisation of behavioural problems, such as truancy and vagrancy; establishing separate facilities for the custodial care of female juvenile offenders; and establishing alternatives to detention, such as community service or restorative justice to ensure that detention is rendered a measure of last resort.
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any current legal reform projects.