The Upper Tribunal has decided that gay men are at risk of persecution in St Lucia and can claim asylum in the UK. The case is TK (gay man) [2019] UKUT 92 (IAC).

The headnote reads:

On the evidence adduced to this Tribunal, the appellant, as an openly gay man in St Lucia, has a well-founded fear of persecution on the grounds of his sexuality. (This case is not reported as a country guidance case but records the evidence leading to the Tribunal’s conclusion at para [54].)

Paragraph 54 says:

I conclude that there is a real risk of persecution for gay men who are openly gay in St Lucia. The respondent has accepted that this appellant will act discreetly because of a fear of persecution. It follows that the appellant has been successful in establishing the sole issue raised in this appeal: he has a well-founded fear of persecution in St Lucia.

There is a detailed review of conditions in St Lucia in paragraph 53. Upper Tribunal Judge Plimmer notes that it is “a deeply conservative, traditional and religious society in which there is widespread disapproval of homosexuality” and that “over the last 10 years men perceived to be gay have been murdered in particularly violent circumstances, and there is no obvious explanation for this, other than their perceived sexuality”.

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