Edited by Denis LeBlanc
LGBT youths living in drainage sewer system in New Kingston, Jamaica. (Click image for video.)
The Jamaican Minister of Youth and Culture the Hon. Lisa Hanna announced on April 15 that the Youth Ministry is in the process of developing new services, initiatives and programmes to address the needs of Jamaica’s children and youth. These groups include youth with sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) issues.
The announcement appeared Wednesday, April 16, on the Facebook page of the Jamaican Ministry of Youth and Culture. Regrettably there was no reference to any timeline for the implementation of these plans to help Jamaica’s very vulnerable LGBT youth. I hope this is not just another political platitude, like the Jamaican P.M.’s 2011 campaign promise to call for a Parliamentary review of the anti-sodomy law. On April 3, the PM stated that this review would not happen any time soon as it did not affect “the majority of Jamaicans who are poor.
I suspect the April 15 meeting called by the Youth Minister and the subsequent announcement were the result of the work being done by Dwayne’s House to bring local and international attention to the barbaric conditions under which Jamaican homeless LGBT youth are forced to live. Some of these youngsters were kicked out as young as 10 years old and are now living in the sewers of the capital city, Kingston, where they sell sex to survive.
The Chair of Dwayne’s House, Yvonne McCalla-Sobers, gave a presentation to the Minister and others at Tuesday’s meeting and provided an update on what Dwayne’s House is doing to assist the homeless LGBT youth. These interventions include providing food and clothing as well as, arranging for basic medical care and coordinating legal assistance (e.g., finding legal aid lawyers, paying some small fines and posting bail).
The following was posted April 16th on the Facebook page of the Jamaican Ministry of Youth:
Youth Ministry to develop programmes to address LGBT youth, homeless, destitute and vulnerable children
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Youth Ministry to develop programmes to address LG…
Kingston, April 15, 2013: The Minister of Youth and Culture the Hon.
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Kingston, April 15, 2013: The Minister of Youth and Culture the Hon. Lisa Hanna has disclosed that the Youth Ministry is now in the process of developing new services, initiatives and programmes to address the ever- changing and complex needs of today’s children and youth. This, she says is necessary, if the Government is to adequately and effectively address the challenges, concerns and needs of the different types of youth the Ministry serves.
These groups include, but are not limited to, Lesbian, Gays, Bisexual and Transgender(LGBT) youth, Men who have sex with Men (MSMs) and youth with sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) issues.
The Youth Minister was speaking at the Panos Caribbean Stakeholder Conference held at the Terra Nova Hotel this morning, April 15, 2014.
” As the Minister of Youth and Culture, I’m responsible for all children and this is not to dismiss the individual and specific challenges of any grouping but to make it clear that we will have to do away with the hypodermic needle approach and develop and implement targeted interventions for each grouping”
Minister Hanna explained that given the lack of data on LGBT youth, the stakeholder consultation is not only timely but necessary as it will provide the Ministry with a better understanding of what the issues are. Additionally, the consultation will identify workable solutions and best practices on how to care and protect those young people who are homeless, destitute and vulnerable especially those belonging to a sexual minority or who are viewed as ‘different’ in any way.
“Jamaica has to now understand the issues facing our children. It is not only our duty provide shelter and protection for those children who have been abandoned and abused but to also provide the therapeutic intervention to address the physical and psychological harm they have suffered.”
Minister Hanna says given the diversity of our youth population, it is clear that the Government will not only have to rethink how they plan, develop and implement programmes geared towards youth development but there will also have to be a ‘resetting’ of the mind and of the way in which we treat each other.
The Stakeholders Consultation was sponsored by Panos Caribbean in collaboration with the World Learning Organization and USAID and was attended by members of the Ministry and the Inter-Ministerial Working Group on Children, Panos Caribbean, UNICEF, the Child Development Agency, OCR,Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of National Security, Ministry of Education, Board-chair of the Maxfield Children’s Home, JFLAG, Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network.
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Will UN goals exclude gays, lesbians and transsexuals?
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Advocates for women, LGBTI people and other disadvantaged people worldwide have launched a campaign to persuade the United Nations to ensure the inclusion of human rights and justice as it makes plans for post-2015 development.
Are gays, lesbians and transsexuals again going to be left out as the world is setting its priorities? So far in the process, there has been strong resistance to including and naming specific vulnerable groups that require human rights protection in the documents to be presented to the world’s leaders.
The goal articulated by hundreds of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is to ensure that “no one is left behind” as the U.N. sets goals for action from 2015 onward. How can this be done unless the vulnerable groups are specifically identified?
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has repeatedly promised to exclude “no one,” but the NGOs’ letter presented to the U.N states that “sustainable development is impossible unless human rights are at its center as a foundational pillar of vibrant, equal and prosperous societies.”
Alessandra Cabral dos Santos Nilo delivered a strong statement a few days ago to the United Nations on human rights in the implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. She called for “a new cycle where human rights and justice will prevail” instead of a process too focused only on old-style economic growth while leaving behind the most vulnerable.
The U.N. is set to debate what comes next after the Millennium Development Goals. These included cutting extreme poverty by half, stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS and universal primary education. Now the process is under way to plan goals for the world after 2015, in a process launched two years ago.
Over a million people from 88 countries have participated so far in creating a vision with key messages (“A Million Voices: The World We Want”) directed to the world’s leaders who will eventually decide the post-2015 agenda at the U.N. Among the key messages to world leaders:
We all have a stake in this process; goals and mechanisms will be adopted by the world’s nations which will affect us all for most of the next generation.
On April 9, 2014, Alessandra Cabral dos Santos Nilo co-founder and executive director of GESTOS, a human rights, democracy and AIDS NGO out of Recife, Brazil, spoke out at the U.N. in New York at the opening joint session of the General Assembly and of the Economic and Social Council. In a hard-hitting statement, Alessandra spelled out what she meant by human rights and, in her speech, listed the issues and people traditionally left behind. She said in part:
At the end of her presentation, she delivered the letter to the U.N. “The letter, titled “The actions we need for the future we want – a civil society red flag,” was signed by over 750 NGO’s world-wide.
The letter was initiated by NGOs after the March 10-21 meeting of the U.N.’s Commission on the Status of Women in New York. from March 10 t0 21. Attended by member states, U.N. entities, and accredited NGO’S world-wide, the theme of discussions was the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls. Despite efforts by the attending NGOs, the 44 agreed conclusions remain conservative and do not mention any specific vulnerable group of women needing human rights protection and inclusion in the process.
The NGOs’ letter states: “…we are alarmed that within the post 2015 discussions, little seems to be underway to reverse the trend of doing business as usual…”. The letter is critical of the current trends stating the post 2015 agenda is: “not on track to be built on the essential priorities for a sound and effective post 2015 global agenda, namely human rights and dignity for all” despite explicit commitments by governments, …“there is still a dangerous disconnection between development and human rights”. The letter adds: “that sustainable development is impossible unless human rights are at its center”
Among the signatories are some of the major international LGBTI groups across the globe including the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, COC Netherlands, the Global Initiative for Sexuality and Human Rights, International Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), the Global Forum of Men who have Sex with Men (MSMGF), and the Coalition of African Lesbians.
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