Children's voices heard at COHSOD in the Caribbean

from Caribbean Net News

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: The voices of Caribbean children were heard loudly earlier this month at the official opening of the 2nd Special Session on Children of the CARICOM Council of Human and Social Development (COHSOD).

The meeting, attended by Ministers from CARICOM member states, was called to assess progress made since the 1st special COHSOD meeting in 2002 on those areas that especially affect children: Early Childhood Development, Child Protection, HIV and AIDS, and Infant and Maternal Mortality.

According to UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Nils Kastberg, the timing of this COHSOD session is especially significant as “we are at a crossroads - just past halfway to 2015”, the target date set for the realization of the Millennium Development Goals.

According to Kastberg, children in the Caribbean region face a multitude of growing challenges. The region has the world’s highest rate of homicides among 15-17 year olds, with boys six times more likely to be victims than girls; girls are often the victims of sexual violence, partly contributing to Latin America and the Caribbean having the world’s second highest teenage pregnancy rate; the region also presents the highest rate of global gun crime – 42 per cent of the world’s homicides. While progress has been made in some key areas including education, it is clear much more needs to be done if the region is to achieve the MDGs.

To focus the attention of the visiting delegations on the issues that matter to children themselves, Monday’s opening session was addressed by young people from the Caribbean. Organised by UNICEF, child delegates from Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname read a joint statement calling on all CARICOM states not just to talk, but to make the necessary changes to support the region’s children.

“We experience injustices such as sexual, physical and verbal abuse, unavailability of good quality and affordable education, and the stifling of our voices,” they told the delegates. "Children have the right to be heard.”

The youth statement called upon Ministers not to just shut their eyes, close their hearts and hope young people will go away.

“We may be powerless now,” they said, “but in a few years we’ll be the ones sitting in your seats and making the decisions. Give us a foundation that you would be proud of. Let us be the change you want to see in the world … We demand from you a Caribbean that is safe, one that provides us the right environment in which we can grow up and reach our full potential in whatever areas we choose, a Caribbean that can contribute to a world that is fit for us – your children.”