Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Sir Ronald Sanders, has welcomed the election acclamation of Jamie Saunders to the executive committee of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM).
Ambassador Sanders said the election of Jamie Saunders of the Directorate of Gender Affairs in Antigua and Barbuda, is recognition of the pivotal role that Antigua and Barbuda has been playing on key issues at the OAS.
He noted that within 24 hours of Gender Affairs Minister, Dean Jonas, proposing Saunders for the position, he was elected, and thanked OAS member states for the support of the Antigua and Barbuda candidate without a vote.
Established in 1928, CIM was the first inter-governmental agency established to ensure recognition of women’s human rights and is the only hemispheric political forum for women’s rights and gender equality.
Jonas said he was delighted at the success of Saunders’ election, and that membership of the SIM executive committee “is a perfect fit with his Ministry’s efforts to promote full and equal access, participation, representation, leadership, and influence of women in the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural spheres.
The Directorate of Gender Affairs is the national gender machinery and focal agency for gender and development within the government of Antigua and Barbuda. The Directorate works to ensure that the national development process is gender responsive. They focus on specific portfolio areas to facilitate the integration of gender into all policies, plans, programs, and projects and provide technical guidance on gender and development issues in Antigua and Barbuda.
“In collaboration with our embassy in Washington, our Gender Affairs Department and Jamie Saunders will actively advance the interests of women in Antigua and Barbuda and the hemisphere”.
This process involves lobbying to amend or enact new legislation that is responsive to the issues of vulnerable groups.
CMC
