PORT OF SPAIN: 21ST JULY, 2022
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has once more been successful in its diplomatic campaign to secure membership of Trinidad and Tobago on important United Nations (UN) bodies with the re-election of its candidate, Professor Rhoda Reddock, to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) for the period 2023-2026.
Professor Reddock was one (1) of twenty-three (23) candidates competing for the twelve (12) vacancies on the Committee, at elections held on 23 June, 2022 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and is the first national to have been elected to this very important Committee since Trinidad and Tobago became a party to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1990.
As a member of the Committee, Professor Reddock will join twenty-two (22) other independent international experts in monitoring the progress made by States Parties (Member States) in the implementation of the Convention. The Committee represents one of the foremost mechanisms worldwide for the promotion of human rights and fair treatment of women, as it assists States Parties in improving their human rights record and providing women and girls with equal access to opportunities for self-actualization, growth and development.
Professor Reddock is an eminent scholar and activist who, over several decades, has made significant contributions to the advancement of gender issues at the national, regional and international levels. As an advocate for women’s rights and empowerment, she was actively involved in the process leading up to the institutionalisation of gender studies at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, and served as Head of the Centre (now Institute) for Gender and Development Studies, from 1994-2008. Professor Reddock served as Deputy Principal of the campus from 2008 -2017. She was also a Founding Member and first Chair of the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA).
During her first tenure on CEDAW (2019 -2022), Professor Reddock has been serving as Vice-Chair of the Working Group on Inquiries of the Optional Protocol of the Convention, which oversees the procedure for the Inquiry mechanism for investigation of grave and systematic violations of the Convention. She is also a member of the Working Groups for the General Recommendation on Indigenous Women, and on Gender-based Violence against Women, respectively.
The Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs congratulates Professor Reddock on her magnificent achievement and expresses his appreciation to the staff of our Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, to our other Missions overseas, and to the staff at the Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs who all contributed to delivering this key strategic objective of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.
