“Adolescents Engaged for Change & a Sustainable Future”
Day two of a regional adolescents and youth forum took place today at the Radisson Hotel in Belize City. Today’s discussions centred on the topic of mental health and the need to speak out freely on the issue. The lack of knowledge about cervical cancer and the effects of gender-based violence on adolescent dating were also on the agenda and so was the misinformation about HIV/AIDS and adolescent pregnancy. The forum was organized by the Spouses of CARICOM Leaders Action Network and in attendance were the wives of leaders of government from Belize, Guyana, Bahamas and Haiti. The participating adolescents and youth shared views on health and climate change with a call to action. Speaking about the issue of crime, Minister of Education Patrick Faber spoke about encouraging positivity among the youths.
Patrick Faber, Minister of Education, Youth, Sports & Culture
“I’d say that the majority of our young people who are engaged in wonderful, creative activities that we can all be proud of. And I am hoping that we can embrace these positive activities and promote them further, encourage all our young people here in Belize and the region to engage in more of this and the government and the people and N.G.O. community also promote these activities so that the good can truly overpower the negatives that are plaguing our society and by extension, we will have a wonderful Belizean society, a wonderful regional society and a better world overall. We all have a role to play and I wish to congratulate the organizers of the activities for the next two days. I wish to congratulate the first ladies because they have a lot of clout and power in the region and when they take note of a situation, people listen. But there are those who work on a daily basis to ensure that the voices of our young people are heard and that we make decisions that are good for them and I congratulate those stakeholders as well.”