Barbados and the Commonwealth Secretariat have agreed on mutual support for the rule of law and human rights, according to this country’s diplomatic officials in London.
When Barbados’ High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and representative to the Commonwealth Secretariat, Edmund Hinkson, SC and his deputy Mackie Holder paid a recent courtesy call to the Commonwealth Secretary General, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, they also discussed increasing the island’s clean energy capacity and trade competitiveness, the Bridgetown Initiative 3.0 and the urgent need for reform of the United Nations Security Council.
“There was further dialogue on the contemporary international matter of reparatory justice for Caricom countries,” Hinkson told Barbados TODAY during an interview on Monday.
“We also took the opportunity to address with the Secretary General, issues relating to the rights of the estimated four million persons with disabilities living in Commonwealth nations in view of the 2023 Report of the Secretariat’s Roundtable on this matter, and of the call by the Heads of Government at their last meeting in October, 2024 to prioritise and expedite the establishment of a high level advisory group to support member-states in advancing the rights of these individuals.”
The diplomat said he also thanked the Secretary General for sending the Commonwealth team to observe Barbados’ February 11 general elections.
A former Ghanaian Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister, Her Excellency Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey is the seventh Secretary General of the Commonwealth which Barbados joined on the same day it gained Independence in 1966.
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