UK urges Antigua and Barbuda to strengthen protections for LGBTQ+ people

On November 6, during Antigua and Barbuda’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the United Kingdom’s top envoy to the World Trade Organization and UN bodies, Kumar Iyer, delivered a formal set of targeted human rights recommendations to the Caribbean nation, opening his address with warm congratulations to Antigua and Barbuda for its successful hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) earlier that same week. Iyer first praised Antigua and Barbuda for its consistent participation in the UPR framework, noting the UK’s eagerness to sustain ongoing constructive bilateral engagement to advance shared human rights priorities moving forward. The first and most prominent recommendation focused on advancing equity for LGBTQ+ communities: the UK called on the Antigua and Barbuda government to roll out robust, cross-cutting legal and policy safeguards to eliminate systemic discrimination and targeted violence against people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, ensuring full, equal access to fundamental human rights for every resident without exception. Iyer emphasized that targeted, evidence-based reform was urgently needed to address pressing unmet needs in this space, alongside parallel work to strengthen domestic violence protections for all vulnerable groups. The second recommendation centered on capital punishment: the UK commended Antigua and Barbuda for its decades-long de facto moratorium on executions, urging the government to formalize this longstanding practice by launching a formal review of existing death penalty statutes with the explicit goal of full legislative abolition. Iyer specifically highlighted the 2020 update to national sentencing guidelines, a reform that he noted had already drastically reduced the likelihood of death penalty sentences being handed down in local courts, creating a strong foundation for full abolition. The third recommendation targeted judicial governance: the UK called on Antigua and Barbuda to continue investing in and reinforcing existing institutional structures to fully entrench, protect, and uphold the principle of judicial independence, a core pillar of fair and accountable democratic governance.