Global Issues
Antigua and Barbuda
• Rapes and indecent assaults accounted for as much as 20 percent of the country’s violent crime rate.
• 30 % of women in Antigua report intimate partner physical violence in their lifetime.
• Antigua and Barbuda is a destination country for women trafficked from Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic for the purposes of sexual exploitation; it may also be a destination country for women trafficked for the purposes of forced domestic servitude.
• Prostitution, brothel owning and pimping illegal.
Advocacy:
• The National Coalition Against Trafficking in Persons does awareness and advocacy work
• Women Against Rape Inc.
• Sheila Roseau is a longtime advocate for women’s rights and the executive director of Antigua and Barbuda’s Gender Affairs Directorate. In 2010, Ms. Roseau was a driving force behind the passage of the country’s first law that provides criminal penalties for human traffickers and extensive protections for victims.
Sources: UN Women Violence against Women Prevalence Data: Surveys by Country 2011; United States Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report 2009 (UN Refugee Agency); U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2011