(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Meeting of the Twelfth Special COHSOD on Children was officially opened last evening (17 March 2008) with the tantalising sounds of the Solo Parkside Steel Orchestra playing Whitney Houston’s The Greatest Love of All to an audience of Ministers of Government, international and regional stakeholders, child journalists and child advocates, at the Guyana International Convention Centre.
Professor Nigel Harris, Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI) who delivered the keynote address, challenged the Caribbean Community to ensure greater collaboration with Regional and international institutions in order to build a Region fit for children.
The professor also pointed to the need to create an enabling environment based on sound philosophical and moral principles which would create a Regional community that placed supreme value on guaranteeing human rights and freedom.
“Our Regional community must create an environment that promotes equity in access to social goods; that protects citizens from the fear of crime and violence and one that creates the conditions for improving the competitiveness of the Region in the global arena,” Professor Harris averred.
He expressed the hope that following the deliberations of the Council, CARICOM Member States would be “moved to give of their best for the nation’s children.”
Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) His Excellency Edwin Carrington who gave the opening remarks announced that preparatory work had started for the drafting of a Protocol on Contingent Rights to be accorded to spouses, children and other dependents of persons who exercised the right to move within the framework of the CARICOM Single Market (CSM). Foremost among those, he said, were the rights to services such as education and health. The CARICOM Secretary General said the drafting of the Protocol was part of the thrust to ensure seamless provision of services to children and others throughout the Region as they move within the CSM. The Hon Clement Rohee, Minister of Home Affairs, Guyana in welcoming the delegates noted that the Community had made advances in several critical areas of child welfare and development and pledged his country’s support for the initiatives that would be developed at the COHSOD for greater protection of children.
Chairman of COHSOD, the Hon. Peter Martinez, Minister of Human Development and Social Transformation, Belize, in his remarks challenged the meeting to ensure that it achieved clarity and consensus on the work to be done on behalf of the Region’s children.
“Furthermore let us endeavour to leave this Meeting with a renewed and heightened sense of commitment to truly give credence to the Georgetown Declaration as we put our shoulders to the wheel to ensure the building of a Region fit for children,” the Minister concluded.
A statement from His Excellency the President of Suriname Drs. Ronald Runaldo Venetiaan who has lead responsibility for Culture, Gender, Youth and Sport in the Quasi Cabinet of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community was read by his Minister of Education and Human Development the Honourable Edwin Wolf. In the statement, President Venetiaan expressed concerns that despite the many plans, actions and efforts, our children were still falling victim to destructive and detrimental influences. He charged the meeting to make an honest evaluation of its actions in meeting its obligations to the Region’s children.
“Let us go beyond identifying good intentions and truly commit ourselves to fulfil the promises we make as leaders, as politicians, as implementers of services, as parents by indeed implementing the actions which our children need to develop their full potential …” Also addressing the meeting was Mr Nils Kastberg, Regional Director, UNICEF who pointed to the unacceptable levels of violence afflicting children and adolescents, and called for careful analysis of the goals set by the Community as well as the extent to which it is committed to achieving those goals.
Following a strong statement made by three of children of the Caribbean, the audience was entertained by some delightful Ballerinas of the Clemsville Music Conservatory who danced to the song, Heal the World. It was a fitting segue into the minute of silence that was observed for the less fortunate children and those who had died as a result of violence and other debilitating factors in the Region.
The three-day COHSOD which has as its theme: Building a Region Fit for Children was convened to focus on the rights of children and to identify policies and programmes that would help to promote the social and economic wellbeing of children in the Caribbean. It closes on Wednesday (19 March) with a declaration on a Region fit for children.
