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Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 15, 2016 (SKNIS): Teachers in St. Kitts are now equipped with teaching aids and materials to effectively implement lessons on human rights in the school’s curriculum after a brief handing over ceremony hosted by the Youth for Human Rights Steering Committee at the Ocean Terrace Inn (OTI) on Friday morning (April 15).

 

Speaking during the ceremony, Jacqueline Christopher, Social Worker and Community Development Officer attached to the St. Kitts UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) office, provided some background information on the project. She revealed that she was the writer of the project. She said that she had been approached by a Nigerian student who felt that the project could be used as an instrument for change throughout the Federation.

 

Mrs. Christopher indicated that the project has been successful thus far.

 

“The project has been one of the best as alluded to by the Secretary General of the local UNESCO office, Mr. Antonio Maynard. It has been one of the best projects from the UNESCO office. He is quite happy about how it has been executed,” she said. “We have attracted international representation because we just couldn’t do it on our own.”

 

According to Mrs. Christopher, the project has been particularly successful at the Beach Allen Primary and Sandy Point High Schools. She explained that children from these schools are able to recite and explain the thirty human rights. It is her hope to see similar successes in all the other schools throughout St. Kitts and Nevis.

 

Thanking the sponsors for providing the teaching aids and materials, Mrs Christopher said, “they came on board and they flooded us with lots of materials. The Free Winds and The Church of Scientology were on board with us and they donated all our materials. Without them we could not have had these materials to give you today.

 

Mrs. Christopher, explained that the project will transform the Federation and noted that once the thirty human rights are inculcated “into the brains of the young people, we will have a better society,” She emphasized that one of the most fundamental human rights is the right to life and if young people understood this “we won’t have thirty and twenty six murders a year.”

 

She encouraged the teachers “to get on board” because it was “a good initiative” and “something that young people can look forward to.”

 

Geraldine Julius, the UNESCO Project’s Coordinator, said that the UNESCO office helps to coordinate programmes that would benefit St. Kitts and Nevis and one of these programmes that is on stream right now is the Youth for Human Rights Awareness Programme which was started in 2014.

 

Pierre Liburd, Senior Youth Officer and Member of the Youth for Human Rights Steering Committee gave a brief account where he recounted his trip to a human rights summit at the United Nations Headquarters in New York last year. Mr. Liburd said he was among many youth representatives from several countries worldwide who shared on challenges to human rights in their jurisdictions and what can be done to preserve human rights. He noted that St. Kitts and Nevis was the only Caribbean nation represented at the summit and it was far ahead of some countries with its respect for human rights.

 

Terry Morris, who is also on the Youth for Human Rights Steering Committee, said he was instrumental in forming a human rights organization that is to be the driving force between all the activities. He emphasized that there must be a structure in place to ensure sustainability of efforts and also to host various activities across St. Kitts and Nevis to bring awareness to the respect for human rights.

 

Some basic human rights include: Don’t Discriminate; The Right to Life; We are All Born Free and Equal; No Slavery; No Torture; We’re All Equal Before the Law; No Unfair Detainment; The Right to Privacy; Freedom of Thought; Freedom of Expression; and The Right to Education. For more information on human rights one can log on to: youthforhumanrights.org