PHILIPSBURG:--- St. Maarten/St. Martin Alliance for Equality (SAFE) Foundation in collaboration with The University of St. Martin (USM) will be hosting its second annual International Human Rights Day lecture on Thursday, December 10 from 7:30pm to 9:00pm.
This year the lecture, which will be held at USM in room 202, will feature St. Lucia-based, human rights, HIV and LGBT activist, Kenita Placide. Placide is the Executive Director of United and Strong and the Eastern Caribbean Coordinator of Caribbean Forum for the Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualties (CariFLAGS). Since 2014, Placide has also served as the Women’s Secretariat for the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans an Intersex Association (ILGA). Placide has been at the forefront of bringing LGBT issues into discussion throughout the Anglo-Caribbean and international community.
In observance of International Human Rights Day, Placide’s lecture will focus on the topic of “Regional Advocacy and Activism for Human Rights”. Placide, who is well-known across the region, looks forward to her visit to St. Maarten/St. Martin and the opportunity to liaison with local advocates and allies.
“Being the Executive Director of United Strong, but also more importantly the Eastern Caribbean Coordinator of CariFLAGS it is important for this type of collaboration between eastern Caribbean islands and that the collaborations continue so that we galvanize momentum. We as small states recognize that there is a need to continue unifying our voices. On St. Lucia we currently have a law that criminalizes same-sex behavior and looking at St. Maarten/St. Martin where they do not have that law, but where there is still need as Caribbean people for education to combat stigma and discrimination, which happens across the islands, it is important that we have the conversations. These conversations are ones that countries cannot run away from, especially on islands where you have a lot of migrants from across the region and especially countries where there may be a lot of homophobia, transphobia and lesbophobia and where stigma, discrimination and violence are higher against that population set. This collaboration certainly will be looking at building bridges and breaking down barriers. Hopefully it will allow us to sensitize and educate, not just the general population, but even those within our own communities,” Placide added.
Also joining Placide will be Maria Fontenelle The Media Officer for United & Strong and Arc International. Fontenelle, will join Placide and Charles-Arrindell at the end of the lecture for a brief panel question and answer segment. Fontenelle and Placide will also be meeting with relevant stakeholders while they are on island.
“We welcome this opportunity to collaborate with SAFE for IHRD. This day, set aside to honor human rights defenders, is also an opportunity to strengthen the work and the activists. Over the next days we will try to achieve this through education, as well as through shared experiences. I will focus on media advocacy, as this is essential to education and sensitizing the public, including policy makers. Human rights defenders cannot work in isolation as they seek to achieve the full recognition of rights for all. We call on the community, all of whom benefit from an enhanced more peaceful society to rally around and support the work of HRDs either through directly or indirectly contributing to their work,” Fontenelle said.
SAFE is non-profit Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender (LGBT) foundation that is a member of the Pink Orange Alliance, which is an umbrella network for LGBT organizations of the islands of the former Netherlands Antilles (St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, Curacao, Bonaire) and Aruba. Through the Pink Orange Alliance, SAFE is linked to LGBT Advocacy group in the Netherlands, COC. SAFe is further linked to ILGA and other regional groups.
The Core objectives of SAFE are to promote social acceptance and inclusion of LGBT people and to create an island free of stigma and discrimination towards them in particular, but also towards all in people in general. SAFE also promotes personal empowerment by encouraging people to be aware of their sexuality, sexual identity and social situations. SAFE also offers support to LGBT people in general.
“Our annual Human Rights lecture gives us the space to not only reflect on the growth of SAFE, but also to gain knowledge on how we, as an organization, can continue to effectively raise awareness of human rights on all fronts, specifically as it relates to minority groups. We are grateful to USM for once again partnering with us in this venture,” remarked Lysanne Charles-Arrindell, President of SAFE.