BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MINISTERS with responsibility for Gender, Labour and Social Development within the CARICOM region gathered yesterday (May 14) in Guyana for a two-day meeting to discuss gender equality in all aspects of life under the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).
At the opening ceremony for the Twenty-Sixth Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD), held at CARICOM Headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana, CARICOM’s Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque told the participants’ that “the ability of men and women to participate equally and equitably in all aspects of life under the CSME must be ensured”.
In addition to the Government Ministers, representatives of regional institutions, regional labour and private sector bodies are in attendance at the meeting.
Reports from CARICOM Headquarters state that high on the Council’s Agenda are issues related to labour and gender as they seek to establish and outline the region’s position in preparation for the Third Global Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in September, the International Labour Conference in June and the negotiations related to the development of the Post 2015 Global Development Agenda. To contributeo
“The recommendations of this meeting, based on the study on the Gender Impact of the CSME undertaken under the Canadian-funded CARICOM Trade and Competitiveness Project, will be crucial to advancing gender equality in this regard,” the Secretary-General said.
Addressing the issue of youth development, he encouraged the delegates to recognise an imperative to engage youths in ways that would utilise their creativity to contribute to their own development and employment prospects.
The Secretary-General noted that there have been many opportunities provided for youths within the Information Communication Technologies Sector, and that this sector was opening up new vistas and the community needs to be well placed to fulfill the potential it offers for employment and entrepreneurship.
“Your Agenda reflects the importance of ICT in helping to achieve a key social and economic goal – decent work”, Ambassador LaRocque said, adding that Decent Work is an important focus for the Council, given its central role in alleviating poverty.
According to a release from CARICOM Headquarters, he urged delegates to ensure that human capacity development within CARICOM is relevant to societal needs in the context of the Draft Strategic Plan, which is in the process of being finalised to be presented to the Conference of Heads of Government at its Thirty-Fifth Meeting in July.
