Caribbean News
The Caribbean Community Pursuing Latin American Development
March 24, 2022 – The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) continues to promote and seek support for its development priorities through partnerships with Latin American and other development partners.
This week, CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General Dr Armstrong Alexis made a presentation to a new cycle of the Latin American and Caribbean Programme (LACRP), a sub-grouping of the global Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The LACRP has as its areas of focus, productivity, social inclusion, governance and sustainable development.
In the area of sustainable development, the Deputy Secretary-General told the meeting that in this last decade of the 2030 Development Agenda, CARICOM will prioritise interventions in Disaster Risk Reduction, compensation for loss and damage, adaptation, food security, management and conservation of the fisheries resources of the region, and enabling mechanisms to access climate financing. 
“The Caribbean Community Secretariat (CCS), backed by its 15 Member States, will use every opportunity during formal negotiations and meetings of high political relevance to champion our call for climate justice,” Dr Alexis informed the meeting.
On increased productivity, the DSG identified CARICOM’s Inter-Ministerial Working Group on Agriculture which is targeting the reduction of the Region’s food import bill by 25 percent by the year 2025, an initiative which will help to rebalance trade and save the Region more than US$2 billion a year. He also highlighted the recent CARICOM Heads’ decision to assign lead responsibility for Industrial Policy to the President of Suriname, as the Region pursues regional and national industrial policies guided by principles of green growth and low-carbon development strategies.
Dr Alexis indicated that the 2022-2025 period will focus on enhancing governance mechanisms that will set the basis for the Community to maximise economies of scale and promote the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) as the main avenue for achieving the regional development agenda. He also noted that CARICOM remains committed to helping its Member State Haiti with its ongoing challenges, and that CARICOM Heads of Government, at last month’s Inter-Sessional Meeting in Belize, agreed to deploy a Team to determine how best to support democratic governance, peace, security and social development in the country.
The DSG said CARICOM will strengthen social inclusion by focusing on human resource development, youth development and gender equity, health sector development, culture and community development, and crime and security.
Castries, March 2025. Saint Lucia has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring human rights for all.
This was the collective assertion, as over 20 national stakeholders participated in a two-day national Human Rights workshop. This initiative was hosted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (OHCHR) Regional Caribbean office, in collaboration with the UN Resident Coordinator’s satellite office in Saint Lucia, and the Ministry of External Affairs, International Trade, Civil Aviation, and Diaspora Affairs. 
The workshop, was designed to enhance awareness of the International Human Rights System, including treaty bodies and human rights mechanisms; build capacity of government officials and civil society members in data gathering and human rights reporting; and to highlight the role that respective agencies and their constituents play within this system. The Ministry of External Affairs, International Trade, Civil Aviation and Diaspora Affairs is the focal agency for Human Rights in Saint Lucia.
In welcoming participants, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs Ms. Janelle Modeste-Stephen, noted that advancing human rights was a shared responsibility. “Government must enact policies and safeguard rights. Civil society must continue to advocate and mobilize. The private sector must embrace inclusive practices. Communities must challenge discrimination and uphold the dignity of every individual,” She urged stakeholders to use the workshop as an opportunity to learn, collaborate and commit to concrete action that will make human rights a lived reality for all in Saint Lucia. “Together, we can build a society, where justice, equality and inclusion are not just aspirations but everyday realities”, she stated.
A key objective of the workshop was to reactivate and strengthen the capacity of Saint Lucia’s National Coordinating Committee for Human Rights, which was established by the Cabinet of Ministers in 2019. The Ministry of External Affairs serves as the Chair and Secretariat of the Committee, which comprises representatives from various government ministries. The committee is responsible for analyzing the human rights situation at the national level and collaborates to report on recommendations aligned with Saint Lucai’s national priorities. The active
functioning of the National Coordinating Committee for Human Rights is crucial for promoting and protecting human rights.
Reflecting on the utility of the workshop, Ms. Bynta Ernest, the representative from the Department of Gender Affairs on the National Human Rights Committee noted that the session was essential to the Committee’s revitalization and to demonstrating its importance in advancing human rights in Saint Lucia. “The practical sessions towards reporting on the recommendations from the last Universal periodic Review (UPR) were also very useful to kick-start the process towards meeting our October 2025 UPR reporting deadline,” she added.
In fulfillment of Saint Lucia’s human rights related reporting obligations and deadlines, workshop participants prepared a draft plan of action to devise next steps to advance Saint Lucia’s human rights agenda.
The workshop was held at the Harbor Club Hotel, from March 5-6, 2025. Participants included representatives from departments of External Affairs, Health, Education, Labor, Justice, Human Services, Gender Affairs, Immigration, Equity, Economic Development, the National Statistical Office, the Parliamentary Commissioner’s Office, the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, the Attorney General’s Office, and the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities.
Photo Captions:
1st insert: Janelle Modeste-Stephen, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs
2nd insert: Bynta Ernest, Gender Affairs
Kingston, Jamaica, March 10, 2025 – The Government has significantly increased investments in healthcare and should another crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic hit the island, the country will be better equipped to deal with it, according to Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness.
Speaking at the unveiling of a monument in honour of healthcare workers who died while tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, today (March 10), at the National Chest Hospital in St. Andrew, the Prime Minister said out of a commitment to strengthen the healthcare system and to strengthen the healthcare workforce, the Government instituted the Dr. Barry Wint Memorial Scholarship in 2024.
“We are investing $2.5 billion to support 607 students pursuing studies in medical technology, nursing, biomedical engineering, and other critical health-related fields,” he said, adding that the fund is ensuring the building of a robust pipeline of professionals “dedicated to service in the health sector.
“This is a solid commitment of how the Government is dealing with building resilience in the system, supporting our professionals, and at the same time ensuring that we can deliver healthcare with care,” the Prime Minister said.
He noted that while July has been earmarked to recognise the “selfless contribution of those who carried us through the crisis, more needs to be done”.
“Our appreciation cannot be confined to a single month or a single event. It must be reflected in how we value and support our healthcare professionals every single day. To the families of the fallen, I know that no words can fill the space left, especially for your loved ones,” Dr.
Holness said.
The Prime Minister underscored that the legacies of the healthcare workers live on in the patients they treated, the lives they touched, and now in the monument that has been erected.
“Let us commit to a Jamaica where those who dedicate their lives to caring for others are themselves cared for. Let us also commit to upholding the values these healthcare workers have embodied – care, compassion, resilience and unity. In their action and sacrifice, they made a choice,” the Prime Minister said.
March 10 marks the fifth anniversary since the first case of COVID-19 was identified in the country, and the fourth year since the start of the recovery with the administration of vaccines.
Contact: Garfield L. Angus
Release: JIS
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