Barbados has not acceded to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which provides the internationally recognised definition of a refugee and outlines the legal protection, rights, and assistance a refugee is entitled to receive, nor its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, which expands the Convention to apply universally and protect all persons fleeing conflict and persecution.

Barbados is also not a party to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which sets rules for the conferral and non-withdrawal of citizenship to prevent cases of statelessness from arising.

On 6 March 1972, however, Barbados succeeded to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, which establishes a framework for the international protection of stateless persons.  Barbados retained a number of reservations to provisions of the Convention initially made by the United Kingdom – declaring that Articles 23 (Public relief), 24 (Labour legislation and social security), 26 (Freedom of movement), 27 (Identity papers), and 31 (Expulsion) only apply in Barbados “so far as the law allows”. Thus,  Barbados is not bound to provide the full set of rights and protections guaranteed by the Convention to stateless persons. For instance, Barbados is not obliged to extend the same access to public relief, labour protections, or social security to stateless persons as it does to nationals; Barbados is not fully bound to guarantee freedom of movement within its territory or to issue identity papers specifically to stateless persons; and Barbados retains greater discretion to expel stateless persons than the Convention would otherwise permit.

Barbados has not acceded to any of the regional asylum instruments for the Americas (e.g., 1928 Havana Convention on Asylum, 1933 Montevideo Convention on Political Asylum, 1954 Caracas Convention on Territorial Asylum, 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, 2004 Mexico Declaration and Plan of Action).

However, Barbados has ratified several other international legal instruments that also relate to treatment of refugees, including the:

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which sets out protections for a wide range of human rights, including freedom from torture and other cruel or unusual punishment, fair trial rights, equality, and non-discrimination.
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which ensures the enjoyment of economic, social, and cultural rights to education, fair and just working conditions, adequate standards of living, social security, and the highest attainable standard of health.
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which protects children’s rights and obliges public bodies to consider children’s best interests.
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which sets out provisions to ensure women’s full enjoyment of human rights on an equal basis with men.
• International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), which obliges signatories to take action to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.
• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which seeks to eliminate disability discrimination and safeguard the rights of disabled people.     

In addition to its obligations under the aforementioned international instruments, Barbados is obligated to respect the international customary legal principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits any country from deporting any person to a country where they face the threat of persecution.

Barbados does not have a comprehensive legal framework regarding refugees’ and asylum seekers’ rights. The 1966 Constitution of Barbados and the Barbados Citizenship Act govern nationality, but neither contains provisions relating specifically to refugees’ and asylum seekers’ rights. 

The principal domestic instrument for entry, stay and removal of non-nationals is the 1976 Immigration Act, which, however, also does not provide a specialised asylum framework. 

As such, UNHCR has historically been responsible for the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process in Barbados. As of 2019, however, the Barbados Immigration Department became officially responsible for considering refugee and asylum claims. This change took place in conjunction with a key Barbados Supreme Court Case in which the Court held that when an individual requests asylum, the deportation process should be put on hold pending a decision by the Immigration Department (see press report here). As of mid-2026, however, the Immigration Department has not yet issued any provisions specifically governing the entry and regularisation of persons seeking international protection in Barbados. Accordingly, UNHCR directs asylum seekers to seek a work permit and temporary residency through the Immigration Department, and to submit an asylum application to the Department, even though it has not yet established specific requirements or steps for RSD.