From November 20th to November 25th a team of Belizeans were in Chile for a meeting commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The agenda of the meeting was to address areas of violence, education, participation and equality in relation to young people within the participating countries.
Belize was represented by Minister of Labour & Local Government, Dr. Carla Barnett, Special Envoy for Women and Children, Kim Simplis Barrow, and Dr. Susan Kasedde the UNICEF Representative in Belize, as well as youth advocates.
We learned more at a de-briefing session yesterday. Dr. Susan Kasedde, Hon. Dr. Carla Barnett, and Jared Cain spoke to us today about this event....
Dr. Susan Kasedde
"One. In this region we have a challenge of violence, and violence is a huge threat to the successful achievement of sustainable development and effective development of young people in the region."
"The second is education and the opportunity for equal access to education for all young people and children in this region; but also, access to a quality education and to second chances."
"The third is participation. Young people made a loud call for opportunities to include them in professional development and in skills development so that they are ready and able and equipped and knowledgeable to take on the leadership roles and roles in contributing to effective communities and national development."
"The fourth and final priority that was identified was that of equality. Young people pointed out maybe for ethic reasons, reasons of age, gender and identity, that many young people are being left out of critical discussions and opportunities."
Hon. Dr. Carla Barnett, Minister of Labour & Local Government
"The young people have the opportunities, through the child advisory bodies, to demonstrate that they are, in fact, strong leaders. As I said to them on Friday, you are leaders, you are leaders in your generation, therefore, we look to you to be the leaders of the next generation."
Jared Cain
"Member of the Youth Advocacy Movement of BFLA and Member of the U-Report Belize National Steering Committee."
"We discussed what violence meant to us, what we want to get out of education. What we want to get out of participation; how we go forward participating as youth, adolescents and children, and finally equality. So, we carefully structured these statements and we presented it and it was a really good presentation, because we got the input from everyone."
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