Universal Periodic Review 10th Session
Intervention by Australia
SAINT LUCIA
Australia welcomes the delegation from Saint Lucia. We appreciate its engagement in the Universal Periodic Review process and its commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights reiterated again today by the distinguished Ambassador from New York.
Australia would particularly like to acknowledge and congratulate Saint Lucia, as a Small Island State, on its effective participation in this process, which requires considerable effort given limited resources.
We commend the Government for its stance against anti-personnel landmines the use and remnants of which can have significant human rights impacts and consequences, as demonstrated by its vote for a UN General Assembly Resolution to ban anti-personnel landmines, and its full support of the Ottawa process.
Australia welcomes Saint Lucia’s de facto moratorium on the death penalty and that the Government has not carried out an execution since 1995. However, the death penalty remains in Saint Lucian law.
We also welcome the Saint Lucian Government’s long-standing efforts to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities together with its recognition that more needs to be done in respect of persons with disabilities, especially in the area of access to transportation and public places.
Australia notes positively the statement in Saint Lucia’s report that special consideration was being given to becoming a party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Against that background, Australia wishes to make two recommendations to Saint Lucia:
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Accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aimed at abolishing the death penalty; and take all necessary steps to remove the death penalty from Saint Lucia’s justice system; and
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Become a party to and implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.