The report of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is very short, which is also due to missing data, which the State Party does not collect. For many topics, no statements at all or only a few could be found in the report. For example, digitalization and mental health were not addressed.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have criminalized consensual same-sex conduct between men. Also, the perception is widespread that lesbian, gay and bisexual children have a psychosocial disorder.

Furthermore, adolescents have limited access to contraceptives and abortions, which lead to morbidity through unsafe abortions. The Committee therefore recommends to provide free and non-discriminatory reproductive health services, paying special attention to preventing early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Many children with disabilities are not included into regular classes in regular schools, so that many of them remain out of school. Also, limited data and information about children with disabilities is available. To improve the situation for them, the Committee urges the State party to set up a comprehensive strategy for the inclusion of children with disabilities and ensure that children with disabilities have access to public transportation and public buildings.

Regarding adolescent health, the Committee is concerned about the high rate of pregnancies and HIV infections.

The State party is prone to natural disasters. To protect children in natural disasters, the Committee recommends that the State party ensure that the special vulnerabilities and needs of children, as well as their views, are taken into account in developing policies or programmes addressing the issues of climate change and disaster risk management.

The Committee is concerned at the lack of regulations and procedures to protect children from exploitation in the tourism sector. Therefore, the Committee recommends that the State party examine and adapt its legislative framework to ensure the legal accountability of business enterprises and their subsidiaries.

The Committee is concerned that children in conflict with the law who live outside Saint Vincent have less access to the juvenile justice system than those in Saint Vincent and that there is no public legal assistance for children in conflict with the law.

The Committee urges Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to ensure that children are not detained together with adults and that detention conditions are compliant with international standards, including with regard to access to education and health services.

The Committee remains concerned about complaints by children of being subjected to police brutality and is also concerned about the high rate of obesity among children.

Concluding observations on the second and third periodic reports released on 13 March 2017. More information about education: Education Act