| At a simple ceremony yesterday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) re-sealed their commitment to forward collaborations on better understanding and addressing issues of children’s rights.Affixing signatures to a work plan, which falls under the programme of cooperation between the two entities, were the Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, and UNICEF’s Guyana and Suriname Representative, Dr Suleiman Braimoh, at the Ministry’s Shiv Chandarpaul Drive, Georgetown, conference room.The work plan, according to Dr Braimoh, represents the second year of cooperation under the current programme cycle for the period of 2012-2016. He said that UNICEF is looking forward very eagerly to continue to support the Government with respect to child’s rights. “We think the signing ceremony is coming at a very good time given that the UNCRC, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, has just released its concluding observations on child rights situations in Guyana based on the combined second, third and fourth reports of the Government and we are looking forward to supporting the Government in moving forward in all these areas,” said Dr Braimoh.UNICEF,Cheap Jerseys China, according to him, is in fact supporting the Government in two major areas which not only seek to understand the issues of women and children but also to be able to put in place legislations, policies and strategies to address the challenges with respect to the rights of the children in the country.Having in place necessary mechanisms, Dr Braimoh alluded to the need to provide support to allow for groundwork to be implemented to effect changes in the situations faced by both women and children.“This is the broad framework and this year will be a continuation from last year…The document (work plan) is not private or secret they are available for review,” said Dr Braimoh even as he commented on its content.According to Minister Rodrigues-Birkett the 2013 work plan is in fact an agreement valued at US$1.2 million. This funding, she added,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, “might sound like a small amount but I have had the opportunity to work with UNICEF and we have seen how small amounts of monies can sometimes actually go a very, very far way when it comes to dealing with issues regarding women and children.”She explained that UNICEF will be working along with Government mainly through its social sectors in particular the Ministries of Health, Human Services and Education. In the area of Education for instance, she said that collaboration will see the assessment of dormitories in the hinterland.“This is something very important for us because, recently we have seen some very unusual behaviours. Some say it is the supernatural others say it could be mass hysteria but UNICEF will be working with us to assess those dormitories,” stated the Minister.She asserted that “we don’t have a lot of examples in other countries to look at so that will be ground breaking.”The work plan will directly focus on the importance of data collection. “I’m a firm believer in looking at policies only when you have data,Supply NFL Jerseys Factory, because data inform policies so some of the works that are going to be done in terms of women and children would advice the government in terms of what policies we should put in place, what policies we should amend and what policies we should probably do away with as well so that is a very,Wholesale Adidas Hockey Jerseys, very important aspect.”The availability of reliable data, according to Rodrigues-Birkett, is in fact a problem that many developing countries face even as she insisted that Guyana has been striving to improve its data collection.She added that another crucial area that the work plan will be seeking to tackle is the edification of members of parliament on child rights. “There is always room for more knowledge,” the Minister said, despite the fact that parliamentarians are expected to have immense knowledge in this regard given the fact that they had voted for the relevant children’s Bills.The signing of the work plan, according to Rodrigues-Birkett, comes at a time when a Parliamentary Select Committee has been appointed to look at recommendations emanating from the Universal Periodic Review. According to her, Parliament had in fact passed a motion to look at these recommendations as it relates to capital punishment, corporal punishment and issues relating to lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender.In terms of corporal punishment, the select committee has already decided that efforts be made to engage UNICEF in order to hear from children and “I think we can work together…I think that is something that will be happening very soon,” said the Foreign Affairs Minister.She pointed to the fact that the technical assistance to help Government take responsibility as it relates to the Convention of the Rights of the Child, is a problem that many countries face, especially small countries in the Caribbean.This is particular true when the notion of reporting to international bodies is considered while on the other hand,China Jerseys, large countries are able to have entire departments dedicated to reporting, the Minister mused.“We are very small countries with limited reporting and Guyana has actually in the last two, three years been trying to be updated in terms of our reporting and so we have been submitting a lot of our reports and I am happy that this is also included (in the work plan),” she added.As such she amplified yesterday that “overall we value the relationship with UNICEF and we see them as a very important organisation in the UN family and this is why we sought to have Guyana elected to the executive board of UNICEF because we feel that we can make a contribution there,Wholesale NFL China Jerseys,” she said. |
