The Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs and the Bureau of Gender Affairs continue to promote a zero-tolerance approach to domestic violence and gender-based violence in general. Therefore, the Ministry through the Bureau continues to develop and promote initiatives that seek to sensitize and create awareness of gender-based violence.

• • The Partnership for Peace Programme which was started in 2012 and administered then by the Administrative Section in the Ministry, was moved to the Bureau last year. The programme was relaunched in 2022 by UN Women. Having successfully completed the 16th cohort in January 2024, the Bureau will set its goal on having two cohorts within the new financial year.
  • The Ministry firmly believes that the fight to end gender-based violence must include our youth at an early age. The Ministry through the Bureau has launched a Bench Project which seeks to sensitise and create awareness of gender-based violence through the donation of picnic benches branded with messages that denounce gender-based violence, to several schools such as The Lester Vaughan School, St. George Secondary School and Graydon Sealy Secondary School.
  • The Bureau will continue to work with the Non-Governmental Organisations and Civil Society to commemorate the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence. The Bureau is cognisant of the need to create alternative and new strategies to boost awareness of and sensitization to gender based violence. In December 2024, the Bureau staged a cultural production ‘Arts for Activism’ in collaboration with the Institute for Gender and Development Studies and the Canadian High Commission around gender-based violence with technical and financial assistance from other partners/ stakeholders.
  • The Bureau, in collaboration with the Office of the Attorney General convened the ‘National Consultation on Domestic Violence in Barbados’ in March 2025. This information-sharing initiative was a precursor to proposed regional and international consultations aimed to reduce incidences of domestic / family violence and its negative impacts on all areas of society.
  • The National Committee on Gender-based Violence is expected to review already established National Action Plans to draw on diverse experiences and suggest new, apt approaches suitable to the needs and realities of Barbados. In this accord, the Committee is tasked with developing strategies specifically geared towards reducing incidences of GBV, implementing a public education programme, increasing State Actor competencies and strengthen accountability.

The Bureau remains concerned about the high incidences of health concerns among men. Having staged three successful Men’s Health Fairs for International Men’s Day in 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively, the Bureau has made this activity an annual affair. In this regard the Bureau intends to work closely with the HIV/AIDS Well Being Commission to develop a more holistic and varied approach to men’s health that supplements the staging of such an event.

The Optional Protocol was drafted in 1992 and adopted by the Commission. In 1996, the Commission created an open-working group on the Optional Protocol and it was adopted on October 6, 1999. State parties to CEDAW are not automatically parties to the Optional Protocol. States must sign and ratify the Optional Protocol in order to become a party.

The Optional Protocol was a response to calls for stronger enforcement mechanisms. The Protocol establishes two mechanisms. The first is the communication procedure, which allows individuals and groups to file complaints with the CEDAW Committee. The second is the inquiry procedure which gives the Committee the power to conduct inquiries into systemic violations of women’s rights (Human Rights Watch). The Optional Protocol explicitly grants power to the Committee to request interim measures from the State Party (Article 5.1) and, unlike CEDAW, the Optional Protocol does not allow any reservations to its key provisions (Article 17). There is no time limitation for bringing claims. The remedies under the Optional Protocol include payment of monetary damages, review or repeal of offending laws, and adoption of measures to prevent future breaches.

Barbados is signatory to the CIM Platform for Action and must submit a report every two years. Established in 1928, the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) was the first inter-governmental agency established to ensure recognition of women’s human rights. CIM is made up of thirty-four (34) Delegates, one for each OAS Member State, and has become the principal forum for debating and formulating policy on women’s rights and gender equality in the Americas.

CIM Delegates are designated by their respective governments. These representatives meet every three years during the Assembly of Delegates. The Assembly is CIM’s highest authority. It established the policies and program of work of the Commission.

The CIM:

• Support Member States, upon their request, in their compliance with their
• respective international and Inter-American commitments on women’s human
• rights and gender equity and equality;
• Support the efforts of Member States to promote full and equal access,
• participation, representation, leadership and influence of women in the civil,
• political, economic, social and cultural spheres;
• Promote the participation and leadership of women in the planning and
• implementation of public policies and programs;
• Advise the Organization in all matters related to women’s rights and gender
• equality;
• Collaborate with Member States, other international organizations, civil society
• groups, academia and the private sector in support of women’s rights and gender
• equality in the hemisphere;
• Report, on an annual basis, to the General Assembly on the work of the CIM,
• including relevant aspects of the status of women in the hemisphere, on progress
• made in terms of women’s human rights and gender equity and equality and on
• specific issues of concern in these areas, and to elevate concrete recommendations
• to the Member States in relation to the above;
• Contribute to the development of international and Inter-American jurisprudence
• on women’s human rights and gender equity and equality;
• Foster the formulation and adoption of Inter-American instruments for the
• recognition of women as rights holders and agents of democracy;
• Promote the adoption or adaptation of the necessary legal measures to eliminate all
• Forms of discrimination against women.

The Convention of the Belem Do Para is the Inter-American Convention for the prevention, punishment and eradication of violence against women. It is the first biding international treaty to recognize that violence against women constitutes a punishable violation of human rights.

The Belem Do Para Convention establishes a system of rights in order to guarantee women a life free of violence and a system of State obligations to respect and guarantee those rights and act with due diligence to protect women from any form of gender-based violence. As signatory to the Belem Do Para Convention, Barbados is obligated to submit its report on the implementation of the Convention every two (2) years.

The Follow-Up Mechanism to the Belem Do Para Convention (MESECVI) was established in 2004 by the Inter-American Commission on Women (CIM/OAS) as an independent consensus-based system to examine the progress made by the States Party to the Convention. The MESECVI is a systematic and permanent multilateral evaluation methodology based on exchange between the thirty-two (32) States Party who have ratified the Convention and a Committee of Experts.

A questionnaire is circulated by the MESECVI to monitor Countries implementation of the articles under this Convention. The MESECVI has recommended that Barbados definition of domestic violence should extended to line up with that outlined in the Convention and that the said Convention be incorporated within national law.

The Platform for Action upholds the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and builds upon the Nairobi Forward looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, as well as relevant resolutions adopted by the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly. The formulation of the Platform for Action is aimed at establishing a basic group of priority actions that should be carried out during a five (5) year interval.

The Platform for Action recognizes the importance of the agreements reached at the World Summit for Children, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the World Conference on Human Rights, the International Conference on Population and Development and the World Summit for Social Development, which set out specific approaches and commitments to fostering sustainable development and international cooperation and to strengthening the role of the United Nations to that end.

Similarly, the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, the International Conference on Nutrition, the International Conference on Primary Health Care and the World Conference on Education for all have addressed the various facets of development and human rights, within their specific perspectives, paying significant attention to the role of women and girls.

The objective of the Platform for Action is the empowerment of all women. It recognizes that women face barriers to full equality and advancement because of such factors as their race, age, language, ethnicity, culture, religion or disability, because they are indigenous women or because of other status. Many women encounter specific obstacles related to their socio-economic status, including their living conditions in impoverished areas.

Many women are also particularly affected by environmental disasters, serious and infectious diseases and various forms of violence against women.

The Beijing Platform for Action outlines 12 critical areas of concern. These are Women and Poverty, Education and Training of Women, Women and Health, Violence against Women, Women and Armed Conflict, Women and the Economy, Women in Power and Decision-Making, Institutional Mechanisms, Human Rights of Women, Women and the Media, Women and the Environment and the Girl Child.

Barbados has adopted five (5) of these critical areas which are Women and Poverty, Women and Health, Violence against Women, Women in Power and Decision-Making and Women and the Economy.

The Beijing Platform for Action is reviewed every five (5) years. Barbados has completed their review for the current period.

Barbados is also a signatory to the Commonwealth Platform for Action. Gender equality is one of the fundamental principles of the Commonwealth. The new Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005 – 2015 (PoA) provides the framework within which the Commonwealth will contribute to advancing gender equality. The Plan of Action builds on past achievements, seeks to close persistent gaps, reflects the Commonwealth’s response to global changes as they impact differently on women and men, and engages with new and emerging challenges. The Plan of Action formed part of the Commonwealth’s contribution to the United Nations Beijin Global Review in 2005. It focused on four critical areas for Commonwealth action:

• Gender, democracy, peace and conflict;
• Gender, human rights and law;
• Gender, poverty eradication and economic empowerment;
• Gender and HIV/AIDS.

The Plan of Action recognises that socio-economic development, democracy and peace are inextricably linked to gender equality. Thus, gender equality is viewed not only as a goal in its own right but also as key factor in enhancing democracy and peace, eradicating poverty and violence against women, ensuring education for all, improving maternal health, reducing child mortality and combating HIV/AIDS. Advancing gender equality across the Commonwealth will contribute to development, democracy and peace.

The Plan of Action reinforces the Commonwealth’s Commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the promotion of a rights-based approach to gender equality. The Plan of Action advocates that the achievement of gender equality should be undertaken in partnership with men and boys. It promotes the involvement of young persons, since over half of Commonwealth citizens are under thirty (30) years of age. Partnerships have been recognised as being one of the most effective ways of working towards gender equality in the context of the Commonwealth’s areas of comparative advantage and the principle of common values in diversity. The Commonwealth will strengthen existing partnerships and forge new ones, especially with organisations that have expertise in the four critical areas.

This Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005 – 2015 provides a template for action for the next decade. It will contribute to building a solid foundation for the achievement of gender equality in this century. And it reflects our commitment to ensure that, throughout the Commonwealth, women are recognised as equal partners with men in shaping our common future.

The Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) the Spanish acronym is CEPAL was established by Economic and Social Council resolution 106(VI) of February 25, 1948 and began to function that same year. The scope of the Commission’s work was later broadened to include the countries of the Caribbean, and by resolution 1984/67 of July 27, 1984 the Economic Council decided to change its name to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); the Spanish acronym, CEPAL, remains unchanged.

In June 1951, the Commission established the ECLAC sub-regional headquarters in Mexico City, which serves the needs of the Central American sub-region, and in December 1966, the ECLAC sub-regional headquarters for the Caribbean was founded in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, ECLAC maintains country offices in Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Montevideo and Bogotá, as well as a liaison office in Washington, D.C.

ECLAC which headquarters is currently in Santiago, Chile, is one of the five (5) regional commissions of the United Nations. It was founded with the purpose of contributing to the economic development of Latin America, coordinating actions directed towards this end, and reinforcing economic ties among countries and with other nations of the world. The promotion of the region’s social development was later included among its primary objectives.

Barbados is a member state of this Commission. Barbados does not currently sit on the Presiding Boards of Presiding Officers. The Division of Gender Affairs of ECLAC seeks to help the region produce gender statistics and indicators and provide technical assistance to individual countries. ECLAC has developed an Indicator for the Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean which is updated annually.

Agenda 2030 is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty. The seventeen (17) Sustainable Development Goals and one hundred and sixty-nine (169) targets seek to build on the Millennium Development Goals and complete what those did not achieve. They seek to realize the human rights of all and to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. They are integrated and indivisible and balance the three (3) dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental set of universal and transformative goals and targets.

Realizing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls will make a crucial contribution to progress across all the goals and targets. Goal five (5) speaks specifically to gender equality. This goal is built on the premise that women and girls must enjoy equal access to quality education, economic resources and political participation as well as equal opportunities with men and boys for employment, leadership and decision-making at all levels. It is expected that the fulfilment of these goals will close the gender gap and strengthen support for institutions in relation to gender equality and the empowerment of women at the global, regional and national levels. It is further expected that all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls will be eliminated.