Catholic Commission for Social Justice
Saturday, August 12 is International Youth Day. The theme this year is: Youth Building Peace. As the UN states, “there is growing recognition that as agents of change, young people are critical actors in conflict prevention and sustaining peace. International Youth Day 2017 is dedicated to celebrating young people’s contributions to conflict prevention and transformation as well as inclusion, social justice, and sustainable peace.
By Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ & Director, CREDI
“We must not ignore those who claim the status of First Peoples in this country as owners of this land before we came, they ask and say to us, very humbly — as we acknowledge those who came as Hindus, Muslims (and) Christians, as we acknowledge them every year with a holiday — to put aside one day, not every year, but just one day as the day of recognition of our First Peoples….We have heard you and we too will acknowledge you because we are all one people in T&T.” (Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley, October 27, 2016)
On Wednesday, August 9, the world will observe the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, focusing on the tenth anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“…Human trafficking and slavery radically strips a person of … fundamental dignity, reducing them to the status of a commodity. It is an evil crying out to heaven. That there are over 20 million people callously held in modern slavery in our world today is a mark of deep shame on the face of our human family that no words alone can remove.” (Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, UK, June 29, 2017)
Today, July 30, is ‘World Day against Trafficking in Persons’. The UN states: “Trafficking in persons is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights… it exploits women, children and men for numerous purposes…The International Labour Organization estimates that 21 million people are victims of forced labour globally. This estimate also includes victims of human trafficking for labour and sexual exploitation. While it is not known how many of these victims were trafficked, the estimate implies that currently, there are millions of trafficking in persons victims in the world.
On July 4, the Daily Express reported that Attorney General, Faris Al-Rawi, expressed concern about the high levels of poverty still existing in Trinidad and Tobago. He said: “San Fernando West, for those of you who don’t know, has some areas of poverty that would shock the living soul out of your body. You cannot imagine how much poverty exists in our country.
“The AG said this poverty is driven mainly by the failure of social services delivery, which has been ‘centralised for far too long. So Self Help (Commission) or the Ministry of Social Development or food cards…we don’t actually hit the targets in as timely a way as they ought to, with a degree of equity as they ought to, because the centralised officer sitting in Abercromby Street or St Vincent Street in Port of Spain does not know where Theresa Street in Marabella is, or some other place in Trinidad is.’ He said local government reform and the devolution of functions through the local government entities would solve this equity gap.”
By Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ (http://rcsocialjusticett.org) & Director, CREDI
From a Catholic perspective, T&T is not promoting authentic integral human development of our children, that is, the development of the young person in all his/her dimensions and of every young person.
As a former Deputy Director of Education/Head of Quality Assurance in a London borough, my observation is that if we are committed to excellence in teaching and learning, then our education system needs to be restructured. Let’s ensure that it is inclusive and catering for diverse learning needs so that our children can realise their potential and function effectively in our knowledge-based society/world. Restructuring must include effective strategies to promote parental/community involvement.