Editing Saint Helena (section)

== Human rights ==
In 2012, the government of Saint Helena funded the creation of the Saint Helena Human Rights Action Plan 2012–2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://humanrightssthelena.burghhouse.com/actionplan2012.pdf|title=humanrightssthelena.org|access-date=10 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027122458/http://humanrightssthelena.burghhouse.com/actionplan2012.pdf|archive-date=27 October 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Work is being done under this action plan, including publishing awareness-raising articles in local newspapers, providing support for members of the public with human rights queries, and extending several UN Conventions on human rights to St. Helena.<ref name="humanrightssthelena">{{cite web|url=http://humanrightssthelena.org/|title=The Equality & Human Rights Commission • Introduction|publisher=humanrightssthelena.org|access-date=28 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415202824/http://humanrightssthelena.org/|archive-date=15 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Legislation to set up an Equality and Human Rights Commission was passed by Legislative Council in July 2015. This commenced operation in October 2015.<ref name="humanrightssthelena2">{{cite web|url=http://humanrightssthelena.org|title=The Equality & Human Rights Commission • Introduction|publisher=humanrightssthelena.org|access-date=28 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415202824/http://humanrightssthelena.org/|archive-date=15 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Child safeguarding inquiry 2015===
In 2014, there were reports of child abuse in Saint Helena. Britain's [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]] (FCO) was accused of lying to the [[United Nations]] about child abuse in Saint Helena to cover up allegations.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sainthelena/11350438/St-Helena-child-abuse-Foreign-Office-was-warned-British-island-couldnt-cope-12-years-ago.html|title=St Helena child abuse: Foreign Office 'was warned British island couldn't cope 12 years ago'|year=2015|newspaper=[[Telegraph (UK)|Telegraph]]|access-date=19 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119012452/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sainthelena/11350438/St-Helena-child-abuse-Foreign-Office-was-warned-British-island-couldnt-cope-12-years-ago.html|archive-date=19 January 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sainthelena/11352492/St-Helena-child-abuse-a-lot-of-dark-things-do-happen-on-this-island.html|title=St Helena child abuse: 'a lot of dark things do happen on this island'|newspaper=[[Telegraph (UK)|Telegraph]]|access-date=19 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119125634/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sainthelena/11352492/St-Helena-child-abuse-a-lot-of-dark-things-do-happen-on-this-island.html|archive-date=19 January 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sainthelena/11350671/St-Helena-child-abuse-how-did-sex-abusers-get-away-with-it-for-so-long.html|title=St Helena child abuse: how did sex abusers get away with it for so long?|newspaper=[[Telegraph (UK)|Telegraph]]|access-date=19 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119133812/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sainthelena/11350671/St-Helena-child-abuse-how-did-sex-abusers-get-away-with-it-for-so-long.html|archive-date=19 January 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Sasha Wass]] QC and her team arrived on Saint Helena on 17 March 2015 to commence the Inquiry and departed on 1 April 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saint.fm/the-independent/|title=The St Helena Independent – Saint FM|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206201911/http://www.saint.fm/the-independent/|archive-date=6 December 2017}}</ref> Announcements were made in local newspapers in the week ending 13 March 2015.

A government report was published on 10 December 2015. It found that the accusations were grossly exaggerated, and the lurid headlines in the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' had come from information from two social workers, whom the report described as incompetent.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/484129/51735_Wass_Inquiry_Web_Accessible_PDF.pdf|title=HC 662 The Wass Inquiry Report|date=10 December 2015|access-date=15 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127025029/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/484129/51735_Wass_Inquiry_Web_Accessible_PDF.pdf|archive-date=27 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/government-inquiry-concludes-daily-mail-was-misled-over-reporting-child-abuse-and-corruption-st|title=Government inquiry concludes Daily Mail was misled over child abuse and corruption on St Helena|magazine=Press Gazette|date=10 December 2015|access-date=15 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151214165305/http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/government-inquiry-concludes-daily-mail-was-misled-over-reporting-child-abuse-and-corruption-st|archive-date=14 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/st-helena-child-abuse-claims-dismissed-as-gross-distortion-of-reality-a6768411.html|title=St Helena child abuse claims dismissed as 'gross distortion of reality'|newspaper=The Independent|date=10 December 2015|access-date=5 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118075143/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/st-helena-child-abuse-claims-dismissed-as-gross-distortion-of-reality-a6768411.html|archive-date=18 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Same-sex marriage===
In 2017, a male St Helenian made an application to the Registrar to marry his male fiancé on St Helena.<ref>{{cite web |title=Same-sex Marriage Application – Preliminary Hearing |url=https://www.sainthelena.gov.sh/2017/public-announcements/supreme-court-2/ |website=St Helena Government |access-date=24 July 2020 |date=24 February 2017}}</ref> The laws at the time had referred to marriages between men and women and it was not clear whether same-sex marriages were lawful. After consultation events, endorsement by the Social and Community Development Committee and Executive Council, the Marriage Ordinance was updated and agreed by Legislative Council in December 2017. Registrar Karen Yon oversaw the first same-sex wedding between the original 2017 applicants, Saint Helenian Lemarc Thomas and Swedish national Michael Wernstedt, in a ceremony at Plantation House on 31 December 2018.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jackman |first1=Josh |title=This tiny island has held its first gay wedding |url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/01/07/saint-helena-first-gay-wedding/ |website=PinkNews |access-date=24 July 2020 |date=7 January 2019}}</ref>

===Reburial of excavated human remains===
In 2021, a wreath was placed by the Saint Helena's Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on the door of the Pipe Store in [[Jamestown, Saint Helena|Jamestown]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sainthelenaisland.info/slavetrade.htm#slavegraves|title=Attacking the Slave Trade on Saint Helena Island Info: About St Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean|website=sainthelenaisland.info}}</ref> The Pipe Store is a building where the remains of some 325 people, men, women, and children disinterred during [[Saint Helena Airport|airport construction]] were being stored pending reburial since 2008. The remains belonged to liberated Africans who had been rescued by the [[Royal Navy]]'s [[West Africa Squadron]] during the suppression of the [[Atlantic slave trade]] and brought to Saint Helena.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/news/press-releases/liberty-bound-slavery-and-st-helena|title=Liberty bound: Slavery and St Helena|website=National Museums Liverpool}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2012/8294.html|title=2012: St Helena dig {{pipe}} News and features {{pipe}} University of Bristol|first=University of|last=Bristol|website=www.bristol.ac.uk}}</ref>