A new In­ter-Agency Com­mit­tee has been formed to help en­sure that per­sons with dis­abil­i­ties in this coun­try do not have their rights tram­pled up­on, and that such per­sons reach their fullest po­ten­tial and lead ful­fill­ing lives.

The Com­mit­tee was formed un­der the aus­pices of the Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices and its key man­date is to pro­mote and mon­i­tor the Unit­ed Na­tions Con­ven­tion on the Rights of Per­sons with Dis­abil­i­ties (UN­R­CPD) and the Na­tion­al Pol­i­cy on Per­sons with Dis­abil­i­ties.

Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary Jac­in­ta Bai­ley-Sobers, pre­sent­ed Com­mit­tee mem­bers with their let­ters of ap­point­ment dur­ing a brief cer­e­mo­ny which took place on March 16, 2020 at the Min­istry’s Head Of­fice, St Vin­cent Street, Port of Spain.

Dur­ing her brief re­marks, PS Bai­ley-Sobers thanked the mem­bers for their will­ing­ness to serve on the com­mit­tee and as­sured them that the Min­istry stands ready to as­sist them in achiev­ing their man­date, to fur­ther en­sure that no one is left be­hind.

Mrs. Bai­ley-Sobers al­so urged mem­bers to not view their ap­point­ments as just an­oth­er com­mit­tee to serve on, but rather, to use their knowl­edge, ex­pe­ri­ence and ex­per­tise to achieve the man­date out­lined in the com­mit­tee’s terms of ref­er­ence.

The In­ter-Agency Com­mit­tee, which will serve for a pe­ri­od of two (2) years, com­pris­es the fol­low­ing Mem­bers:

Ms Sharon Rogers, Di­rec­tor, Dis­abil­i­ty Af­fair Unit, Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices (Chair­man)
Ms Rosa-Mae Whit­ti­er, Di­rec­tor, In­ter­na­tion­al Af­fairs Unit, Min­istry of Labour and Small En­ter­prise De­vel­op­ment
Dr Na­tal­ie Dick, Con­sul­tant, De­part­ment of Pae­di­atrics, Er­ic Williams Med­ical Sci­ences Com­plex
Ms Mary Bastien, Guid­ance & Coun­selling Co­or­di­na­tor, Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion
Ms Lynette Mans­ingh, Act­ing Se­nior Hu­man Re­source Of­fi­cer, Min­istry of Hous­ing and Ur­ban De­vel­op­ment
Mr Ra­bindranath Jo­gie, Ag. Chief Tech­ni­cal Of­fi­cer, Min­istry of Works and Trans­port
Mr Ian Ram­per­sad, Di­rec­tor, In­ter­na­tion­al Law and Hu­man Rights Unit, Min­istry of the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al and Le­gal Af­fairs
Ms Natasha Lewis, Tech­ni­cal Vo­ca­tion­al Teacher
Mr Ja­son Clarke, So­cial Ser­vices Of­fi­cer      
Mr Ken­neth Sur­ratt, Ex­ec­u­tive Of­fi­cer, Trinidad And To­ba­go Blind Wel­fare As­so­ci­a­tion
Ms Jacque­line Leo­taud, Pres­i­dent, Con­sor­tium of Dis­abil­i­ty Or­gan­i­sa­tions
Ms Dana Smith, Trinidad and To­ba­go As­so­ci­a­tion for the Hear­ing Im­paired

Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Min­istry of Sport and Youth Af­fairs and Di­vi­sion of Health and So­cial Ser­vices (To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly) al­so form part of the Com­mit­tee.