By Robert A. Emmanuel
During yesterday’s opening ceremony for the Population and Development Forum, the Executive Director of UNFPA, Dr. Natalia Kanem said population policy should encourage the development of women and girls.
The two-day forum, which is being held at the Royalton Antigua Resort, will allow policymakers to analyse and promote action to address key population issues affecting the Caribbean, through a review of progress in the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus, the regional agenda for population, 10 years after its adoption.
Stakeholders will also discuss emerging issues, and challenges, share lessons learned and best practices, and agree on actions to accelerate the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus.

“As we meet, the human population is at its peak — 8 billion human souls on the planet today and let me ask you: what would the world look like if every person on the planet, women and girls in particular, were educated and had control over their bodies and futures?” Director Kanem rhetorically stated at yesterday’s opening ceremony.
According to the press release by the Ministry of Health, Wellness, the Environment and Social Transformation, legislators, academia, youth leaders, and civil society organisations will engage in a discussion on important issues like adolescent pregnancy, Gender Based Violence (GBV), migration, and demographic resilience.
“Sexual health and reproductive rights are the foundation for gender equality which is essential for the prosperous sustainable future that we all want and deserve,” she added.
“Adolescent fertility in Latin America and the Caribbean is the second highest in the world, just below that of Africa, and we have seen an increase in the birth to girls under the age of 15 during and after Covid,” the Director also reported.
“The Caribbean and the world is at a critical juncture—poverty, Covid, conflict, the relentless pushback against women’s rights. All of this is setting back progress and all of this is compounded by the climate shocks and natural disasters that this region knows all too well,” she also expressed.

“The Caribbean and its small island states are dramatically affected by climate change and, as always, it is women and girls and other vulnerable groups that suffer the most.”
Kanem called on men to stand up against the toxic masculinity that is growing in society and champion reproductive rights and the end of gender-based violence.
The forum will also discuss the status of implementation, opportunities, challenges, lessons learned, and best practices to hasten the realization of the Nairobi Commitments from the ICPD25 Summit.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chet Greene welcomed the participants to the forum and encouraged continuous efforts to solving the world’s greatest development challenges.
“As we gather here today, the issue of climate change, high external debt or correspondence fiscal tightness, unemployment, high external migration among our youth and an ageing population is among the issues that you will be focusing as you continue to find solutions to the issues at hand,” he said.