The Confederation of Pensioners and Older Persons in Curacao (KOPAMKO) has taken the initiative to involve the seniors and pensioners organizations, and all organizations of "the seniors of tomorrow" on all the islands of the Dutch Caribbean, to reflect upon all the commitments made by the Kingdom government in Madrid 2002, to realize the objectives from the Madrid International Action Plan on Aging and to improve the living conditions and the wellbeing of the seniors co-signed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The KOPAMKO together with the Building Bridges Foundation and the University of Curacao will organize the First Dutch Caribbean Seminar on Aging in Curacao on the premisses of the University of Curacao (former University of the Netherlands Antilles) from July 25th till 28th 2011.
At the 2nd World Assembly on Aging in Madrid 2002 the Kingdom of the Netherlands has co-signed the Madrid Political Declaration and the Madrid International Action Plan on Aging, which contains commitments to improve the wellbeing of seniors all over the world. One of the objectives is that before 2012 all human rights of seniors should be realized.
According to the bottom up approach agreed upon in this Madrid International Action Plan on Aging seniors also have to participate in the implementation and evaluation of this action plan. In 2012 a delegation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has to report on the implementation and the results of this action plan on aging in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Seniors organizations of all the islands have to give their evaluation and try to form part of the Kingdom delegation to the UN-meeting in february 2012 in New York to evaluate the implementation of the International Action Plan.
The Sint Maarten Seniors and Pensioners Association has been invited by the KOPAMKO as a fraternal organization in the Dutch Caribbean. As a matter of fact all interested seniors, pensioners, and the seniors of the future such as labour union members, church members, politicians and the general public of all the islands of the Dutch Caribbean (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius), who want to participate can register to participate in this seminar.
The Building Bridges Foundation established in Sint Maarten as one of the co-organizers of this seminar is looking for funding to assist with air transport and accomodation to the seminar in Curacao for interested persons with experience and information concerning the reality of the seniors and pensioners of Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius. Furthermore the Building Bridges Foundation will record the proceedings of the seminar to show them in Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius on local television and in community centers for all who could not attend the seminar in Curacao.
As most of the participants will be speaking Papiamento the Building Bridges Foundation as co-organizer of this First Dutch Caribbean seminar on Aging is making arrangements to facilitate the English speaking participants with translation facilities and translate the Papiamento spoken on the recordings in English.
A copy of the program you will find attached to this press release. Also find attached the issues and the objectives of the Madrid International Action Plan on Aging that will be topic of discussion and evaluation in the workshops during this First Caribbean Seminar. All these issues and objectives were agreed upon in the World Assembly of Madrid 2002 by over 160 governments of the world among which the Kingdom of the Netherlands and a delegation from the Netherlands Antilles as observers. The participants of the Caribbean islands of the Kingdom for the first time will evaluate how far these objectives have been realized in the Caribbena part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The SMSPA delegation will keep the Sint Maarten community informed of the results of this First Caribbean Seminar on Aging upon return.