U.S. Statement at the Universal Periodic Review of Kiribati
As delivered by Anna Palladino
The United States welcomes the Kiribati delegation to the UPR Working Group.
We recommend that Kiribati:
- Eliminate laws that discriminate against women and girls, including the paternal transfer of citizenship to the exclusion of maternal transfer, and take steps to increase women’s economic empowerment by reducing economic barriers to women and enhancing protections in policies, laws, regulations and public and private practices to facilitate women’s participation in the economy.
- Decriminalize LGBTI conduct or status and combat violence against LGBTI persons.
- Criminalize the sex and labor trafficking of children within the country and specify definitions in the criminal code for light and hazardous work in order to more clearly define child labor abuses.
We commend Kiribati on its July 2019 accession to the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.