BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A report released by the United States Department of State lists corruption and violence against women as two of the issues with which St. Kitts and Nevis has had to contend during 2008.
The entire report, dubbed the “2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices”, focuses on the different countries of the world and outlines variances in their human rights practices.
Embodied therein is the “2008 Human Rights Report: St. Kitts and Nevis” and, according to its drafters, the Federation’s government “generally respected the human rights of its citizens” but experienced problems with four specific areas, including malfeasance and violence against females.
Under the sub-heading “Government Corruption and Transparency tendency”, the report states that there have been isolated reports of corruption.
“The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and the government generally implemented these laws effectively. There were isolated reports of government corruption during the year. The opposition PAM party continued to allege possible misconduct on the part of government officials. Public officials are not subject to financial disclosure laws, and there is no agency responsible for combating government corruption. In 2007 the PAM leader disclosed his personal finances publicly and called for the prime minister to do the same.”
The report further states, notwithstanding that the law makes no provision for “public access to government information”, the government’s website provided “limited information concerning government actions.”
Regarding the issue of violence against women, the report states that in St. Kitts and Nevis there are laws prohibiting rape and indecent assault, but there is no provision made to address spousal rape.
“The law prohibits rape, but it does not address spousal rape. Penalties for rape range from two years' imprisonment for incest between minors to life imprisonment for statutory rape or incest with someone under 16. Indecent assault has a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment. Incest with a person 16 or older carries a penalty of 20 years' imprisonment. During the year police investigated a number of cases of rape and indecent assault.”
It describes violence against women as “a problem”, noting that “although many women were reluctant to file complaints or pursue them in the courts, the Ministry of Gender Affairs handled an annual average of 25 to 30 reports of domestic violence. The director believed that due to the nature of the crime, many women did not feel comfortable reporting it or asking for a protection order. There were no prosecutions or convictions for domestic violence during the year.
“The ministry offered counselling for victims of abuse and conducted training on domestic violence and gender violence for officials in the police and fire departments, nurses, school guidance counsellors, and other government employees.”
Sexual harassment, as outlined in the report, “remained a problem” in 2008 as the law of the Federation “does not specifically address” the issue.
Following the release of the report, SKNVibes made attempts to contact Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Denzil Douglas through his Press Secretary Erasmus Williams.
Williams had indicated that he had not read the report and therefore could not provide a comment on the matter. The link and text for the report were forwarded to Williams on Thursday last and he promised to forward the document to the PM for his perusal.
Subsequent communication with Williams revealed that the Prime Minister had not yet perused the document and is currently out of the Federation.
The Attorney General, Dennis Merchant, was also contacted for a possible comment on the issue and this media house was informed that he too is out of the Federation.
