Antigua & Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have pledged their “resolve” to achieve positive outcomes for empowering women and girls in the Caribbean as part of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s global-inspired movement and as a celebration of his legacy.
Speaking on behalf of CARICOM at a special reception Tuesday evening, convened by Ban on the “Everyone, Every Child High-Level Initiative,” Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne praised the outgoing UN Secretary general for his “vision in identifying ‘Every Woman, Every Child’ as a flagship, with its emphasis on enhancing the health and well-being of women, girls and adolescents..
“Your initiative inspired the formulation of this ‘Every Caribbean Woman, Every Caribbean Child (ECWECC) Commitment; coordinated by CARICOM and UNFPA, endorsed by the July 2016 Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government and championed by Caribbean First Ladies,” he added.
Browne said that the “Every Caribbean Woman, Every Caribbean Child Commitment” places emphasis on achieving a series of goals by 2020.
He said these include being the first region in the world to eliminate mother to child transmission of HIV; reducing the number of adolescent pregnancies in each country by at least 20 per cent; achieving universal access of adolescents to age appropriate accurate information, as well as access to quality sexual and reproductive health care services and commodities; and implementing age-appropriate gender and culturally sensitive sexuality education.
The commitment also seeks to adapt legal and social protection mechanisms for the prevention of all forms of violence against adolescent girls and to demonstrate that solutions to women’s health, especially with respect to cervical cancer, rest on an “effective integrated health system, with emphasis on early detection, ‘test and treat’”.
Following Ban’s leadership, Browne said Caribbean countries have adopted the “He-for-She” campaign involving boys and men as part of the solution.
He said this campaign was launched by UN Women and the Jamaica government “and is championed by two famous men – in no particular order of global importance –Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness and Usain Bolt”.
But Browne said the success of “Every Caribbean Woman, Every Caribbean Child” campaign will “obviously depend on fostering partnerships for this US$15 million commitment”.
He disclosed that CARICOM countries have already gained the support of the Clinton Global Initiative and several UN agencies, such as UNPFPA, PAHO/WHO and UN WOMEN, adding that “we have overwhelming endorsement from civil society at country level”.