PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC – The inaugural Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit on Youth Development opened here on Friday night with a very poor attendance by regional leaders.
The two-day summit is being attended by host President Ronald Venetiaan, CARICOM Chairman and Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Dean of the CARICOM Youth Ambassador Corps, Dominican Monelle Alexis, chided the lack of participation by leaders of the 15-member CARICOM grouping, noting that they were not present to receive the report that the Caribbean leaders themselves had mandated young people of the region to prepare.
The Caribbean leaders at the summit in 2006 had mandated the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development (CCYD) to conduct a “full scale analysis of the challenges and opportunities for youth in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and to make recommendations on how best to empower them and improve their well-being.”
The CCYD has compiled a report entitled “Eye on the Future: Invest in YOUTH NOW for the Community Tomorrow”. It will form the basis for discussions here on Saturday, the final day of the two-day summit.
Reading from a prepared speech, Alexis, said young people throughout the Caribbean were expressing their “profound disappointment” at the lack of participation by the Caribbean leaders.
She said the disappointment is “assuaged only by the well-known and demonstrated commitment of those heads in attendance and our expectation that they will continue their well known advocacy and support for and with youth, for they understand too well: no investment in youth, no regional integration – no regional integration, no CSME.
“We hope that the absence of the majority of Heads of Government does not signal the low priority given to youth development,” she said, as youth delegates stood for nearly 10 minutes to demonstrate their disappointment at the non-appearance of the leaders.
Alexis however, challenged her peers to play their role in ensuring that the region’s youth become part of the decision making process now, rather than later, a sentiment shared by the CARICOM Chairman.
The Dominica Prime Minister urged the young people not to let miniscule issues derail the process of their involvement at the highest levels and called on them to concentrate on the findings of the report and to work together with regional leaders in developing a clear path for youth involvement and development in the Caribbean.
Skerrit made reference to the monumental efforts put into the development of a youth agenda by President Venetiaan, who holds responsibility for youth on the CARICOM quasi cabinet.
Skerrit said he believes the final document which will come out of the summit should rightly be named the ‘Venetiaan Initiative on Youth’.
CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington said the report was a “true labour of love,” describing it as watershed document in the CARICOM’s 37-year history.
He said that the findings and recommendations “may turn out to have provided the only sure path through which the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) may eventually come to fruition.”
In making a case for greater youth involvement within the life of the Community, the CARICOM Secretary-General said the young people will be the beneficiaries not only of the CSME, but also of the integration arrangements;.
He challenged young people that they should “not just to look for the benefits that might accrue from the opportunities within the CSME,” but also to use their energy, creativity and skill to help in the building of the kind of Community in which they want to live.
President Venetiaan, while declaring the conference open, empathised with the youth for their stance but endorsed Prime Minister Skerrit’s challenge for all to look beyond distractions and on the task at hand.
Speaking to reporters after the opening ceremony, President Jagdeo said that many of the leaders were unable to be present and that their representatives were empowered to address the issues at the conference.
He said he was confident about the outcome of the summit noting that many of the issues to be discussed while complex interwoven.
“How do you separate the growth in education expenditure from youth empowerment?” Jagdeo asked, noting “sometimes when we tend to find one sentence solutions to complex interwoven problems, we tend not to get the complexity of the issues raised.”
The CCYD report examines critical issues including education, migration, health and well-being, crime and violence, youth dreams and aspirations, youth un-employment and employability, governance, politics and participation, all of which have implications for the continued development of the CSME that allows for the free movement of goods, services, labour and skills across the region.
A special feature of the report is the comprehensive investigation into the situation of Haitian youth, the findings of which become even more poignant and pertinent in the face of further tragedy and displacement.
The major findings have prompted the Commission to call for – among other things – greater investment in youth and for young people to be accepted as equal partners in the decision-making and problem-solving processes of the region.
If Hon Roosevelt Skerrit reigning? He had gone up for a competition noh? or water wetting him? He is reigning because if he did ot attend the youth conference the wrath of God all you would throw on him. His reigning was reconfirmed on December 18th 2009. Have you forgotten 18 – 3. Which clock that ticking? The clock for Dominica to disappear for the surfaceof the earth as it is sitting on nine volcanos? Pray for your country and yourself tuned before writing all this nonesense.
skerrit raining nuh?
The clock ticking…lol