Akash Sama­roo

Lead Ed­i­tor - Pol­i­tics

akash.sama­roo@cnc3.co.tt

On the glob­al stage, T&T has reaf­firmed its com­mit­ment to fos­ter­ing a safe and just world for women and girls.

Speak­ing at the Unit­ed Na­tions Head­quar­ters in New York dur­ing the High-Lev­el Meet­ing on the 30th An­niver­sary of the Fourth World Con­fer­ence on Women, For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Sean Sobers said: “Let us work to­geth­er to dis­man­tle sys­temic bar­ri­ers and cre­ate a world where every woman and girl can live with dig­ni­ty, free­dom and op­por­tu­ni­ty. To­geth­er, we can make gen­der equal­i­ty not just a goal, but a re­al­i­ty for all.”

Sobers high­light­ed the coun­try’s on­go­ing ad­vo­ca­cy for women’s em­pow­er­ment, stat­ing,:“Trinidad and To­ba­go has long pro­mot­ed a so­ci­ety where women and girls are sup­port­ed and has con­sis­tent­ly called for the re­moval of sys­temic bar­ri­ers that in­hib­it equal­i­ty at home, in the work­place, and in wider so­ci­ety.”

Sun­day marked the 30th an­niver­sary of the Bei­jing De­c­la­ra­tion and Plat­form for Ac­tion, a land­mark glob­al pol­i­cy doc­u­ment ad­vanc­ing women’s rights and gen­der equal­i­ty.

“From wage gaps and gen­der-based vi­o­lence to un­equal ac­cess to op­por­tu­ni­ties, the chal­lenges are re­al and ur­gent,” Sobers told the UN. “Emerg­ing glob­al crises such as cli­mate change, con­flict, and tech­no­log­i­cal di­vides fur­ther ex­ac­er­bate these in­equal­i­ties, de­mand­ing our un­wa­ver­ing fo­cus and ac­tion. This com­mem­o­ra­tion is not just a cel­e­bra­tion of gains made, but an ur­gent call for the work yet to be done.”

Sobers’ call for a safer world for women and girls co­in­cid­ed with a trag­ic lo­cal re­minder: 12-year-old Mari­ah Seenath was found mur­dered near her home in Friend­ship Vil­lage, Ste Madeleine, on the same day.

T&T, a sig­na­to­ry to the UN Con­ven­tion on the Rights of the Child (CRC), is due for a re­view next year by the UN Com­mit­tee on the Rights of the Child to as­sess its progress in im­ple­ment­ing the Con­ven­tion.