Catholic Commission for Social Justice
…but still a long way to go
On August 30 and 31, I will be serving as one of several judges at London’s Notting Hill Carnival – Europe’s largest street festival. God has gifted his people with abundant talent. Artistic excellence is evident each year in many a band.
On Saturday August 1, TT will once again observe Emancipation Day. On this day in 1985, TT’s Government declared Emancipation Day a national holiday to commemorate the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1834.
We recall that although The Abolition of Slavery Act was passed in August 1833 and came into effect on August 1, 1834, slavery was not really abolished in the British Caribbean until 1838. After 1834 a “new raft of law-and-order measures” came into effect.
On Wednesday 15th July the world will celebrate the first World Youth Skills Day. “On 18th December 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus, a resolution, spearheaded by Sri Lanka, declaring 15th July as the World Youth Skills Day. Sri Lanka initiated this resolution, with the assistance of the G77 & China, to highlight at a global level, the importance of youth skills development. The goal is to achieve better socio-economic conditions for today’s youth, including as a means of addressing the challenges of unemployment and under employment” (www.un.org).
by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ (rcsocialjusticett.org) & Director, CREDI
From May 22-24, I attended an International Conference in Rome entitled: “Women and the post-2015 development agenda: the challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
Over 100 women participated in the three-day event which was organised by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, in collaboration with the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations, and the World Women’s Alliance for Life and Family.
Although progress has been made in certain areas, the world will not successfully attain the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by September 2015. Currently, the UN is elaborating a new post-2015 development agenda and is consulting on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), 169 targets and more than 400 indicators.
On Saturday May 30, the nation observed the 170th Anniversary of Indians arriving in TT. While we celebrate diversity in our blessed twin-island Republic, we must acknowledge that we still have a long way to go to ensure that every creed/race in TT has an equal place.
In July my father, Balgobin Ramdeen, a third generation TT citizen of East Indian origin, will celebrate his 90th birthday. Sadly, my mother, Ruby, who died in 1995, will not be here to join our celebrations with him. To honour him, I share hereunder excerpts from his presentation to those gathered on Indian Arrival Day at TT’s High Commission in London in 2014: