The Secretariat is honoured and privileged to salute the women and girls of the Caribbean Community on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2014.  This year’s United Nation’s theme ‘Equality for Women is Progress for All’, is one that we can all embrace as we examine our progress toward meeting the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and, in particular, Goals 3 and 5 relating to gender equality and maternal health respectively.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community Secretariat dovetailed the half-yearly meeting of CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government to launch a variety of creative products that it intends to use in a public education campaign against Gender-Based Violence.

And what opportune time to build awareness on violence against women but on March 8, International Women’s Day (IWD 2012)!

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) End violence against women was the clear message that resonated with speakers at the opening ceremony of the Caribbean artistes UNITE-ing against Gender Based Violence workshop in Paramaribo, Suriname on Monday, 18 July, 2011.

The workshop was organized in tandem with UN Women to train Caribbean artistes to raise awareness on gender based violence and promote positive attitudes and behaviour towards a more gender sensitive community through the use of edutainment.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Monday, 8 March saw the launch of the CARICOM Advocacy for Gender Justice Programme, a historic initiative for the advocacy of gender equality and justice. The two-year programme will be coordinated by Dr. Rosina Wiltshire who has been named CARICOM Advocate for Gender Justice. The mandate of the CARICOM Advocate for Gender Justice is to influence research, advocacy and policy; to lessen the perpetration of violence against women and promote justice.

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?