Saint Lucia Issues - 2023

Disputes - international

Saint Lucia-Venezuela: joins other Caribbean states to counter Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a criterion under UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which permits Venezuela to extend its EEZ/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea

Trafficking in persons

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List — Saint Lucia does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; the government passed an amendment to remove the option for a fine in lieu of imprisonment, increased public awareness of a hotline to report trafficking, and worked with an international partner to investigate a potential child sex trafficking case; however, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared with the previous year to expand its anti-trafficking capacity; officials have not initiated a prosecution since 2015 and have never convicted a trafficker; the government did not identify any victims for the second consecutive year or report providing any services to victims, and it did not enact or fund a new national action plan; therefore, Saint Lucia was downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List (2022)

trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Saint Lucia, as well as victims from Saint Lucia abroad; children from economically disadvantaged families are at risk of sex trafficking, often forced by parents or caretakers in exchange for goods or services; disadvantaged young women from rural areas are vulnerable to sex trafficking, and children from poor communities are vulnerable to sexual exploitation; documented and undocumented migrants from the Caribbean and South Asia, including domestic workers, are vulnerable to trafficking; foreign women working in strip clubs and in commercial sex are at risk of sex trafficking; the government reports business owners from Saint Lucia, India, China, Cuba, and Russia are the most likely traffickers in the country; Cuban medical professionals working in Saint Lucia may have been forced to work by the Cuban Government (2022)

Illicit drugs

a transit point for cocaine and marijuana destined for North America, Europe, and elsewhere in the Caribbean; some local demand for cocaine and some use of synthetic drugs