The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has criticized a March ruling that recriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in Trinidad and Tobago.
Jason Jones, an LGBTQ activist from Trinidad and Tobago who currently lives in the U.K., in 2017 challenged Sections 13 and 16 of the country’s Sexual Offenses Act. High Court Justice Devindra Rampersad the following year found them unconstitutional.
The country’s government appealed Rampersad’s ruling. Court of Appeal Justices Nolan Bereaux and Charmaine Pemberton overturned it on March 25.
Jones said he plans to appeal the ruling to the Privy Council, an appellate court for British territories that can also consider cases from Commonwealth countries. (King Charles III is not Trinidad and Tobago’s head of state, but the country remains part of the Commonwealth.)
“The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expresses concern over the recent decision of the Court of Appeal of Trinidad and Tobago reinstating legal provisions that criminalize consensual sexual relations between adults of the same sex, which had been previously repealed by a first instance court decision in 2018,” said the commission in a May 9 press release. “The IACHR reiterates that such laws are incompatible with international human rights standards — particularly the rights to privacy, equality, and non-discrimination — and have a profoundly discriminatory impact on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex (LGBTI), and gender diverse persons.”
The Organization of American States created the commission in 1959 as a way to promote human rights throughout the Western Hemisphere. The commission works with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which the OAS created in 1979 to enforce provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights.
The commission in a 2021 decision said Jamaica must repeal its colonial-era sodomy law. The Jamaican Supreme Court in 2023 ruled against a gay man who challenged it.
Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, and Dominica are among the countries that have decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in recent years. A judge on the top court in St. Vincent and the Grenadines last year dismissed two cases that challenged the country’s sodomy laws.
“Laws criminalizing consensual same-sex intimacy between adults are incompatible with the principles of equality and nondiscrimination under international human rights law,” said the commission. “The criminalization of conduct intrinsically linked to rights recognized by international standards constitutes a violation of the principle of legality.”
The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com.
