The government of Prime Minister Gaston Browne says Antigua and Barbuda was the lone Caribbean Community (CARICOM) ministerial representative at last week’s United Nations High-Level “side event” on gender affairs.
Minister of Social Transformation and Human Resource Development Samantha Marshall attended the event that was hosted by the Regional Office of UN Women for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Permanent Mission of Ecuador, according to an Antigua and Barbuda government statement.
The event, part of the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, addressed “National Women’s Machineries and the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: Experiences from Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Marshall spoke about the actions, achievements and challenges faced by Antigua and Barbuda in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
She highlighted the Caribbean Institute for Women in Leadership (CIWIL), ongoing legislative review of existing laws and acts relating to domestic violence and human trafficking, the significant reduction in mother to child transmission of HIV, and the establishment in Antigua of a 24-hour crisis center for support and services to survivors of violence against women.
The panelists included the Vice President of Guatemala Roxana Baldetti who presented on her experiences with a Women’s Specific Cabinet.
Before the high-level event got underway, Marshall held an informal bilateral meeting with the Guatemalan vice president, according to the statement.
