(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana - Wednesday, 6 December 2023) - Sixteen (16) women who are survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) will receive grant awards with the support of the CARICOM Secretariat, the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) and the Spotlight Initiative.
As the Region joins the global observance of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, progress has been identified in the important area of data collection on discrimination and violence against women and children and the analysis of underlying causes.
CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque noted the development in a message to mark the occasion.
In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. In doing so, UN Member States took an historic step in accelerating the Organization’s goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system, which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment:
Data for Action: Measuring Prevalence to Respond to Gender-Based Violence
In 2011, an edutainment project was undertaken by the CARICOM Secretariat with support from UN Women, which brought together Caribbean Artists from Belize, Guyana and Suriname in a three-day workshop in Suriname to use their creativity in the production of public campaign material on gender based violence. These artists came together to add their voices to the global campaign led by the United Nations Secretary-General, to end violence against women.
Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon: Let me on behalf of the UN Women Regional Programme Director (RPD) Ms. Roberta Clarke, extend our sincere appreciation to the Government of Suriname, to the Representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Culture present today for your partnering with UN Women and CARICOM Secretariat for the hosting of this workshop, which we expect will be a very engaging and significant stimulus in our efforts to end gender based violence.
I am honored to be appointed as the CARICOM Advocate for Gender Justice. Gender is about both men and women and it is fitting that this initiative is launched on March 8th, International Day of Women. This may seem to be a contradiction, but it is not. Women have always been in the forefront of the struggle for equality, justice and peace for all. However, because of gender inequality, their contribution is often neither recognized nor remembered. How many of you present today know of the work of our own Claudia Jones?
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Director of Human and Social Development in the CARICOM Secretariat, Myrna Bernard is advocating for formal education on Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
In a presentation to the two-day meeting of the Bureau of Women’s/Gender Affairs in Georgetown, Guyana on Wednesday, Ms Bernard told gender directors and coordinators that they should consider more seriously the introduction of GBV in the Health and Family Life Education curriculum, a curriculum which was intended to address violence in the schools context.
I am very pleased to be here this morning to participate in the opening session of this meeting of Experts of the Caribbean Sub-Region on Violence against Women, and I wish to thank the organizers for giving me the opportunity to make a few brief remarks on this occasion.