This week Thursday on October 23, 2014 the Sint Maarten Seniors and Pensioners Association (SMSPA) will be having a one day seminar for their members on the rights of older persons. The event will be in the Belair Community Center in Cay Hill (opposite of the Medical Center) and strats at 10 am in the morning until 4 pm in the afternoon.
Since the first of October the International Day of Older Persons quite a lot of commemorations and celebrations have been organized this month for the elderly. The SMSPA seminar will be an educative and action oriented event for the over 200 members of the organization. The seminar is being made possible with support from some corporate sponsors coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce of Sint Maarten, as a way to give back to the seniors for their contribution made to the development of Sint Maarten.
The topics that will be addressed during this one day seminar are:
- Which are the rights of the elderly that have been realized in Sint Maarten and which rights have not been realized as yet ?
- which actions have been realized in Sint Maarten since the Madrid International Action Plan on Aging of 2002?
- what is the status of the implementation in SInt Maarten of the San Jose Charter on the Rights of Older Persons of 2012?
- which rights of the seniors targeted by the Millennium Development Goals will be realized in Sint Maarten before the target year of 2015?
- do seniors have the right to development and how this right will be realized in the National Development Plan for Sint Maarten?
- what did the politicians do for the seniors of Sint Maarten since 10-10-10?
- what has been achieved for the seniors in Sint Maarten since the first seminar of the SMSPA in January 2011 and the struggle of the SMSPA?
- what should be the demands of the Seniors in Sint Maarten for the second governing period from 2014-2018?
- what should be the plan of action of the Seniors until the 2015 evaluation of the constitutional reform in the Kingdom and what should be the future of Country Sint Maarten after being in the Kingdom of the Netherlands for over 200 years?
The input of the members of the seniors association in this seminar will be vital. It will serve as input for the actions of the Seniors and Pensioners Association ISMSPA) in the upcoming governing period as well as in next year's Dutch Caribbean evaluation and the Latin American and Caribbean evaluation of the implementation of the San Jose Charter on the Rights of Older Persons.
All members of the seniors association are invited to participate in the SMSPA seminar of Thursday coming starting at 10 am in the Belair Community Center. During lunch break the participants do not have to leave as they will be offered a lunch and a special entertainment. Members are encouraged to pre-confirm their participation and do not have to pay the registration fee.
Non-members will be admitted if there are still open seats available. Non-members though will have to pay a registration fee of US$ 20.
SMSPA Press Release
