Nearly 160 children and teenagers across Trinidad and Tobago became "Inclusion Superheroes" as the United Nations partnered with the National Centre for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) and the National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) to bring disability inclusion education to public libraries during the July/August vacation camp period. The initiative, delivered between July 13 and July 21 under the banner "Be a Superhero for Inclusion," commemorated International Youth Day 2026.Sessions were held at the public libraries in Couva, Port of Spain, Diego Martin, La Horquetta, Debe, Moruga and Point Fortin, targeting camp participants ages 7 to 17. The content was co-created and co-presented by the UN and the NCPD, ensuring the messaging was grounded in both theory and lived experience by young people with disabilities.  The sessions tackled the concepts of human rights, visible and invisible disabilities and the distinction between equality and equity. Most importantly, the discussions introduced the idea that it is often barriers in society  - not people's disabilities - which exclude children with disabilities from learning, participating and playing. A team tower-building challenge helped children discover through hands-on experience that people can start from different places and still reach the same goal.Central to the sessions were personal testimonies from Darshan, a student of the NCPD, who shared his experience of becoming disabled after a car accident. That story gave young participants a powerful opportunity to understand that some people acquire disabilities during the course of their lives, while others may be born with a disability.  By framing inclusion as a superpower, children understood how their actions can create big impact. From respecting differences to standing up against bullying, the sessions positioned young people as active agents of change with the power to make meaningful choices that create inclusive classrooms, schools, sports teams and community spaces for Children with Disabilities. With collaboration across the UN Office of the Resident Coordinator, IOM, UNFPA and UN Women, the UN system participation in this initiative reflects our commitment to Leave No One Behind by building the awareness and agency needed to dismantle the barriers that exclude Persons with Disabilities.   

Wealthy on Paper, Vulnerable in Reality: Why Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten Need a New Development CompassOn a clear morning in Aruba, the water off Eagle Beach glimmers in colors that no photograph fully captures -- turquoise fading into cobalt, coral gardens visible from the surface, a living treasury built over millennia. In Curaçao's Willemstad, a UNESCO World Heritage harbor reflects the resilience and cultural richness of a people who have made something extraordinary from very little land.  In Sint Maarten, Pelican Hill offers breathtaking ocean views. You can sit there and take in the unparalleled beauty of sunrise and sunset or watch the bay where cruise ships and small boats bring enchanted tourists every day. The problem is, neither natural beauty nor these manmade wonders appear in either country's GDP.That is the central paradox confronting Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, three Caribbean nations and constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Since all three are classified as high-income economies, their GDP metrics exclude them from thresholds that determine eligibility for concessional financing, climate adaptation funds, and development assistance. By the standard arithmetic of national accounting, each looks like a success story. The trouble is that this arithmetic captures almost none of the other economic, environmental and cultural factors that matter most. The Tyranny of a Single NumberThe United Nations Secretary-General's High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP, which released its report Counting What Counts in May 2026, made the problem clear: GDP measures economic output but ignores how income is shared, leaves out the non-market value, and even counts some harms as growth. The report is the first UN-level framework developed at Member States' request to complement GDP with a broader set of progress indicators, covering well-being, equity, sustainability and resilience. The logic applies with particular relevance to Small Island Developing States, and nowhere more urgently than in the Dutch Caribbean.Consider the scale at stake. Together the three islands are home to fewer than half a million people - roughly 108,000 in Aruba, some 150,000 in Curaçao and around 41,000 in Sint Maarten, yet each is classed among the wealthiest economies in the Caribbean on a per capita basis. That prosperity is recent and narrowly built: Aruba’s population has more than doubled since 1950, drawn in by the tourism economy that now underpins its high-income status. The same dependence leaves these islands acutely exposed. When Hurricane Irma struck Sint Maarten in September 2017, it damaged some 90 percent of the island’s infrastructure and inflicted damage and losses of about US$1.38 billion. On an annual basis, the economy contracted by roughly 12.5 percent. In a matter of hours, more than a year’s worth of national output was swept away.Vulnerabilities Without a VoiceThe risks facing these islands are deep and, critically, not of their own making. The most pressing is climate change, a crisis driven overwhelmingly by the emissions of large industrialized countries. Those emissions have warmed the Atlantic, intensified hurricanes, bleached coral reefs, and raised sea levels. Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten's contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is negligible. Yet they face the consequences directly and are then deemed by the rules of international finance to be ‘too wealthy’ to receive help. Natural Wealth That Goes UnmeasuredThe Beyond GDP framework's focus on natural capital captures something vivid and irreplaceable in these islands. Curaçao's coral reefs are among the healthiest in the Caribbean. Aruba's coastlines support species found nowhere else on Earth. The waters around Sint Maarten are a breeding ground for migratory species that feed fisheries across the wider region. These are genuine treasures, ecological, cultural and economic at the same time, and they are the foundation of the tourism that generates the GDP numbers which then bar these islands from accessing support.These environmental assets are also under serious threat from climate change, pollution and coastal development - precisely the pressures that a broader lens for evaluating eligibility for development financing would flag as requiring urgent action.A Question of JusticeThere is a fundamental fairness issue here that the international community has not yet honestly addressed. The idea that those who cause a problem should help fix it is a basic principle of both law and the principles of social justice. The emerging global framework on loss and damage from climate change acknowledges this. But the rules governing development finance still use income classifications as a stand-in for need; classifications designed for a different purpose, which routinely shortchange small island states whose headline income figures hide real fragility.The Beyond GDP process, now before the UN General Assembly, is a real opportunity for reform. As member states negotiate new frameworks for measuring progress, the specific situation of high-income small island states must be directly addressed. These islands are paying for emissions they did not produce, and the global measurement system should finally say so.A New Compass, Not a Higher BarThe Secretary-General's expert group was right: what we measure shapes what we value. For too long, the international system has measured Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten by a single number that flatters while it blinds. It registers hotel revenues but not hurricane exposure. It counts services output but not reef degradation. It records tourism spending but not desalination costs, demographic decline, migration pressure, or the accelerating sea level rise. These islands deserve to be seen whole. Their high-income status must not be used to deny them the sustained support they are rightfully owed; support that is, in any honest reading, compensation for damage they did not cause.The coral gardens of the Curaçao shelf, the turquoise waters of Aruba's leeward coast, the fishing grounds around Sint Maarten - these are not decorative footnotes to a development story. They are the story. It is time our metrics learned to count them.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Health is taking commendable steps toward advancing disease elimination by improving its response to HIV, tuberculosis and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). There have been notable achievements by Trinidad and Tobago in combatting these diseases such as 83% of people living with HIV know their status and there is 93% viral suppression among those on treatment. However, health services delivery within the country requires greater coordination and administrative oversight across Regional Health Authorities (RHAs). The Ministry of Health has partnered with The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) to address these issues. They currently hinder efforts to eliminate HIV, other STIs and tuberculosis as public health threats in Trinidad and Tobago by 2030. One collaborative initiative to address the issues has been the conduct of a Human Resource Health Assessment which aimed to ensure a sufficiently, well-trained and equitably distributed workforce within Trinidad and Tobago’s RHAs. The project is geared towards safeguarding the health and well-being of the country’s citizens and will culminate at the end of September 2026. The Ministry of Health, through the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC) and HIV/AIDS Coordinating Unit (HACU), led the project, while UNAIDS, the CDC and PAHO offered significant technical support and the funding which facilitated its implementation. On Friday, June 12, 2026, the preliminary findings and recommendations of the Human Resource Assessment were presented to the Honourable Dr. Lackram Bodoe, Minister of Health as well as other executives of the Ministry, including Acting Permanent Secretary, Ms. Erica Fortune and the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jeanine St. Bernard. These findings and recommendations were capsulated into a Human Resource Plan, which will serve as a strategic guide for workforce planning in Trinidad and Tobago’s health sector over the next five years and support the broader HIV Sustainability Plan. The Human Resource Plan is aligned with national and regional policies and plans, including the National HIV/AIDS Policy of Trinidad and Tobago (2025–2030), the National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan 2025–2030, and the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework on HIV and AIDS (CRSF) 2026-2030, to ensure policy coherence.   

Belize City, Belize, 16 June 2026 — Caribbean governments and the United Nations set the stage for a strengthened development partnership with the presentation of the United Nations Multi Country Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (MSDCF) 2027-2031 for the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean. The Framework was presented during the 2026 Annual Coordination Meeting of the United Nations MSDCF for the Caribbean, convened on 16 June 2026. Over the next five years, the new MSDCF will guide coordinated UN support to national and regional priorities, helping to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals and deliver meaningful results for people and communities across the region.Chaired by Belize, the hybrid meeting brought together Member States, Resident Coordinators, regional partners, and United Nations entities for a focused regional dialogue on results, priorities, and the next chapter of cooperation. Participants reflected on the achievements and lessons of the MSDCF 2022-2026. Guided by the theme, One Caribbean. One Framework. One Future, the 2026 Annual Coordination Meeting placed regional partnership at the center of the conversation. The theme carried a simple and powerful message: the Caribbean shares many of the same challenges and aspirations, and through one shared framework, countries and the United Nations can work together toward a stronger future.“With Governments and development partners we have worked together to shape a Multi-Country Cooperation Framework, that reflects national priorities and regional aspirations. This Framework is about creating opportunities, strengthening resilience, protecting the most vulnerable, and delivering tangible results in the daily lives of Caribbean citizens.” — Mr. Raul Salazar, UN Resident Coordinator for Belize and El Salvador, Chair of the Regional Steering Committee of the MSDCF.During his remarks, H.E. Oscar Arnold, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Belize affirmed, “The MSDCF 2027-2031 has been shaped by the priorities, experiences and aspirations of our countries, and stands as a testament to our collective commitment to build a more resilient, inclusive and prosperous Caribbean.” Participants also discussed the strategic direction of the MSDCF 2027-2031, which is designed to respond to the Caribbean’s evolving development realities and accelerate progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Framework is organized around two Strategic Pillars. The first, Economic and Ecosystem Resilience, focuses on economic diversification, skills development, and strengthening ecosystem resilience. The second, Future Ready People and Empowered Communities, focuses on integrated services and addressing crime and violence prevention. Together, these pillars speak to stronger economies, protected ecosystems, better access to services, safer communities, and a region better prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead.Through the presentation of the MSDCF 2027-2031, Caribbean governments and the United Nations reaffirmed their commitment to national ownership, regional cooperation, and meaningful results for people, communities, and future generations.The focus now turns to implementation planning, coordination, and delivery under the new Framework, ensuring that regional priorities translate into practical action at the national level across countries. The meeting concluded with a shared commitment, grounded in a common vision, to collective action and partnership in advancing sustainable development across the Caribbean.One Caribbean. One Framework. One Future.