Caribbean Consultation on Justice for All and Human Rights Agenda to take place in Jamaica
From Bahama Islands Info
CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana — The Caribbean Consultation on Justice for All and Human Rights Agenda takes place on 9-11 April 2014, at The Jamaica Pegasus, Kingston, Jamaica.
The three-day dialogue advances the Caribbean human rights agenda and is the culmination of a series of national consultations held over the past six months in several Caribbean countries. These consultations provided “the fora for community consultations and conversations around establishing and sustaining equal opportunities regardless of race, religion, class, gender, among others and are expected to take forward the process to eliminate stigma and discrimination in the Caribbean’s HIV response by 2015 – the deadline for the achievement of the millennium development goals,” said PANCAP Coordinating Unit Director, Dereck Springer.
The Caribbean Consultation is organised around sessions/ panels and group discussions and will, among other things, consider updates and outcomes of the key Caribbean milestones on HIV-related human rights and the setting up of a policy and advocacy monitoring group for the Justice for All Programme. The expected outcome is a PANCAP Justice for All Roadmap which identifies concrete programmes and policies to dismantle structural barriers that deny human rights and impact vulnerability.
According to Prof. Edward Greene, the United Nations Secretary-General Envoy for HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean, “this consultation affords an opportunity to encourage leaders to ensure that human rights are respected for all persons including sexual minorities.”
The Consultation which is being coordinated by the PANCAP Coordinating Unit in collaboration with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), the Government of Jamaica and the University of the West Indies, with funding support from the Global Fund for Tuberculosis, AIDS and Malaria (GFATM), officially opens on 9 April.
Under the chairmanship of Prof. Greene, the Official Opening begins at 6:15 p.m. and features remarks from the Prime Ministers of Jamaica and St. Kitts and Nevis, The Most Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller and The Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, respectively. Remarks will also be given by Dr. Luiz Loures, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS, Dr. Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund and Dr. Carolyn Gomes, Executive Director, Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition. The Keynote Address will be delivered by the Hon. Michael Kirby, former Justice of the High Court of Australia, while the Vote of Thanks will be given by Mr. Springer. A presentation on the Regional Dialogue of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law and progress to date will also be given by Ms. Mandeep Dhaliwal, Director, HIV, Health and Development, UNDP.
The Justice for All Programme, Creating a Facilitating Environment to Reduce HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination in the Caribbean, accords with UNAIDS’s Global Zero Goals – Zero New Infections, Zero AIDS Deaths and Zero Stigma and Discrimination by 2015.
PANCAP is a sixty-two member Partnership which was established by CARICOM Heads of Government in 2001 to respond to the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
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