By Observer News Desk
A new United Nations campaign is calling on Caribbean employers to dismantle workplace barriers and expand access to decent jobs for people with disabilities across the region.
The HireAbility Campaign, launched under the theme ‘Break Barriers. Embrace Inclusion. Champion Rights’, brings together six UN country teams in the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. It is intended to promote inclusive employment and strengthen the economic participation of people with disabilities.
Governments, employers, organisations of people with disabilities, youth advocates, development partners and UN agencies are supporting the regional initiative. Several businesses have also committed to fair hiring practices and inclusive workplace cultures by signing the Disability Inclusive Employer Pledge.
Speaking at the campaign’s launch, UN Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Simon Springett described the initiative as an important milestone for disability inclusion across the Caribbean.
He said it had developed from an idea advanced by youth advocate Zinzee Noel, Grenada’s representative on the UN Youth Advisory Group, into a regional movement for inclusive employment and equal opportunity.
‘Although barriers differ across countries, the aspiration is universal: persons with disabilities must be able to participate fully in society, access decent work, contribute their talents and skills, and be recognised for those contributions,’ Springett said.
He thanked disability advocates and participating businesses, including Massy Stores Saint Lucia, the Grenada Broadcasting Network, Grenada-based Unique Productions Inc and Barbados-based Bajanpro Inc, for their leadership and support. He urged stakeholders to treat the campaign as part of a sustained effort to build accessible workplaces and more inclusive communities.
Noel, who co-hosted the launch with Dominica youth disability advocate and UN Youth Advisory Group representative Loik Charles, said people with disabilities already possess the skills, qualifications, creativity and determination needed to contribute meaningfully to the workforce.
Drawing on her experience of discrimination despite being qualified and capable, Noel said the campaign offered an opportunity to change the conversation around employment and disability. She added that inclusive hiring strengthens organisations, communities and economies, as well as benefiting individual workers.
International Labour Organization Caribbean Office Deputy Director Thomas Kring told participants that access to decent work was a matter of rights, dignity, equality and economic participation, rather than charity.
He said labour markets must give people with disabilities fair opportunities to develop their skills, secure decent work and contribute fully to society. Kring described the employer pledge as a public commitment to fair hiring, dignity, respect and equal opportunity.
Representatives of Carenage Bay Holding Ltd in Canouan, St Vincent and the Grenadines; Runman Belize Corporation; and the Grenada Co-operative Bank Limited signed the pledge during the launch. The signatories also outlined steps they are taking, including the bank’s plan to introduce an internship programme for people with disabilities.
Charles urged other employers and partners across the Caribbean to sign the pledge, remove workplace barriers, strengthen partnerships and commit to long-term change.
A disability-inclusion sensitisation webinar followed the ceremony. Presentations by the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Population Fund offered guidance on inclusive hiring, workplace accessibility, reasonable accommodation, preventing violence and harassment, and creating supportive work environments.
The four-month campaign will culminate on International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3, giving more employers an opportunity to sign the pledge. Its stated goal is a Caribbean in which talent is recognised, barriers are removed and people with disabilities can participate fully and equally in the world of work.
UN campaign urges Caribbean employers to break barriers for workers with disabilities
