By: Michele Small-Bartley
November 24, 2023
I wish to join colleagues who would have spoken before me in welcoming you to this 2023 Caribbean Youth Summit, being celebrated under the theme: “Securing Our Future – Youth Co-Creating a Peaceful and Sustainable Caribbean Community against Gender-Based Violence”.
As the theme suggests, throughout this Summit, heavy emphasis will be placed on providing a platform for young people and critical stakeholders from across the Caribbean to engage in constructive dialogue on issues related to Gender-Based Violence as well as sexual health, reproductive health and mental health issues; all with the aim to develop innovative – youth-focused – solutions to these challenges.
Thinking of Gender-Based Violence as well as sexual health, reproductive health and mental health issues confronting young people across the Caribbean, one can think of the several manifestations of the related consequences. Such consequences include, but are not limited to, sexual abuse, including incest; early, repeat and/or unwanted pregnancies; lower school performance; lower educational attainment; school drop-outs; job absenteeism; and poor sexual and reproductive health outcomes for young people.
Prevalence surveys in the Caribbean have highlighted intergenerational transmission of family violence. We know, for instance, that individuals who witness or experience violence during their childhood are more likely to use or experience family violence as adults. Further, violent discipline at home is the most common form of violence experienced by children and youth.
Importantly, being a victim or survivor of Gender-Based Violence during adolescence can lead to long-lasting negative mental and physical health outcomes and can set young people on a trajectory of subsequent abuse.
The strengthening of life skills programmes and Comprehensive Sexuality Education programmes has been generally accepted as a means to aid efforts to address some of the challenges faced by young people. While most of the countries in the Caribbean now have some form of institutional programmes for the delivery of life skills programmes in formal education and have undertaken curricular activities to incorporate the same in the processes of educational reform, countries have not always achieved the effective institutionalisation, sustainability and impact of such policies and programmes. This requires sustained efforts to fully address this issue.
Equally important is the recognition that while there is general agreement on the effectiveness of Comprehensive Sexuality Education, this appreciation has not been translated into policy and programme direction at national levels across the Caribbean. Comprehensive Sexuality Education is not yet institutionalised, and there exist gaps in the delivery of a quality Comprehensive Sexuality Education programme across the Caribbean.
Given the challenges before us, it is fitting that we should be assembled here in Jamaica at this moment for the Caribbean Youth Summit, as the CARICOM Youth Ambassador programme celebrates its 30th Anniversary, since its inception as the lead on youth development and regional integration, and as the Caribbean Regional Youth Council celebrates its 10th Anniversary as an independent, elected representative body for organised youth across the Caribbean.
The Declaration of Paramaribo on the Future of the Youth in the Caribbean Community (of 2010) recognises youth as creative, resilient and salient assets to the Region’s development. The CARICOM Youth Action Plan also identifies youth as partners in development and prioritises your involvement in building and creating a protective environment to foster youth resilience in the Caribbean.
I and the CARICOM Secretariat, therefore, look forward to the expected outcome of this Caribbean Youth Summit: the development of a Roadmap that identifies the strategies and actions to address regional and national issues associated with peace, security, and safety for youth and that generates positive social and gender norm changes to prevent violence.
(The Caribbean Youth Summit (CYS) was officially opened today, Wednesday, 22 November, at the AC Hotel Marriot, Kingston, Jamaica. Activities for the inaugural summit are being held under the theme: ‘Securing Our Future: Youth Co-Creating a Peaceful and Sustainable Caribbean Community.’
At the opening ceremony, Ms. Michele Small-Bartley, Deputy Programme Manager, Youth Development, CARICOM Secretariat and Mr. Sherwin Toyne-Stephenson, Programme Manager, Crime and Security, CARICOM Secretariat, represented Ms. Alison Drayton, Assistant Secretary-General, Human and Social Development.)
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