Senator the Honourable Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, is welcoming Jamaica’s election to two subsidiary bodies of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Jamaica will serve as a member of the Commission on Population and Development for the term 2024-2028 and on the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)/United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) for the term 2024-2026.
Minister Johnson Smith said that, “Jamaica welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the important work of the Executive Board, as well as of the Commission on Population and Development. Jamaica looks forward to serving on these bodies as they complement the Government’s strategic actions towards attaining Vision 2030.”
Speaking on the value of multilateralism, Minister Johnson Smith said that, “Jamaica continues to use our voice as a strong advocate to develop solutions to the challenges faced by our country, our region and more broadly for all small-island developing states and the Global South.”
The Minister explained that, “Our membership on the Board of the UNDP will give Jamaica a voice on issues including poverty reduction and combating climate change. Within the UNFPA, we are a strong advocate on issues such as gender equality and advancing rights and opportunities for young people. We also look forward to contributing to fruitful discussions on peace and security, humanitarian and development solutions through the UNOPS.”
The Executive Board is responsible for providing intergovernmental support to, and supervision of, the activities of the UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS, in accordance with the overall policy guidelines of the General Assembly.
On 5th April 2023, the UN’s Economic and Social Council filled vacancies in fourteen (14) subsidiary bodies through election by both acclamation and secret ballot and adopted four decisions pertaining to organizational matters.
