20 March 2009

Overseas Territories Directorate

King Charles Street

Whitehall

London

SW1A 2AH

Mr Cooper

BY EMAIL:

[email address]

Dear Mr Cooper,

Thank you for your email of 22 February requesting information about civil partnerships in the Overseas Territories. The Ministry of Justice will reply to you separately about the Crown Dependencies.

Currently, same-sex civil partnerships cannot be conducted under law in any of the Overseas Territories and there are no laws allowing this in the process of being introduced. No such unions have taken place in any of the Overseas Territories.

Same-sex civil partnerships, if originally conducted in the UK are not recognised formally within the Territories nor are the associated rights upheld by the laws of the territories in question.

The protection and promotion of human rights in an Overseas Territory are primarily the responsibility of Territory governments. However, the UK is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the Territories fulfil obligations arising from international human rights treaties which have been extended to them. The Government, therefore, takes a close interest in the rights of all inhabitants of the Territories and takes any allegations of abuse very seriously. Even where the Government does not have direct responsibility for these areas, we raise, and will continue to raise, matters of concern with Territory Governments to assure ourselves that the rights of individuals are not neglected.

Yours sincerely,

L Constantine

Louise Constantine

Overseas Territories Directorate

1

Foreign &

Commonwealth

Office