Case No. UKUT-00092-(IAC)

6.This has not been designated a country guidance case. The number of asylum applicants from St Lucia is very low and a St Lucian country guidance decision was considered unnecessary. However, both representatives agreed to prepare and conduct the appeal in a similar manner to a country guidance case. It is with this in mind that the appellant prepared a consolidated bundle of all relevant country background information from a variety of sources and instructed a country expert, Dr Bere Mahoney. She attended the hearing and was cross-examined by Mr McVeety. 7.After the hearing, I considered that the quantity and quality of the material and submissions before me might justify the case being designated a formal country guidance decision and wrote to the parties to seek their views. The appellant agreed with this course, but the respondent objected to the case being retrospectively classified as a country guidance decision given the small number of asylum seekers from St Lucia. As the parties have been unable to agree, this decision does not provide country guidance in the formal sense. The decision however seeks to comprehensively set out conclusions regarding the treatment of openly gay men in St Lucia, having considered wide-ranging country background evidence.