Constitutional Reform Committee to Engage Youth Across the Island

With the new school year now under way, the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC), will be engaging the youth on Jamaica’s journey towards becoming a Republic.

Speaking with JIS News, CRC member, Sujae Boswell, said it is critical that the young people are engaged and consulted throughout the constitutional reform process.

“At the end of the day, the youth do make up a large section of our society and if we are to move forward, it will require that their involvement be seen in a real and true way,” Mr. Boswell says.

He points out that a multiprong approach will be taken, noting that there is polling being done in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Jamaica, to facilitate youth participation in the process.

“We are doing a WhatsApp poll through their platform U-Report to get youth perspectives on the constitutional reform process, particularly moving away from the monarchy, and obtaining their views on if we should become a republic. So, that is one of the activities on stream now,” Mr. Boswell says.

He also informs that there are plans to do school tours across the country to engage the youth.

“We have done some already; we’ve gone to Frome Technical High School. We are going to the non-traditional spaces…we visited a HEART/NSTA Trust institution out in Westmoreland and so we are engaging both at the rural as well as the urban level to engage young people,” Mr. Boswell says.

“We have met with youth groups online [and] we have met with youth groups in Manchester. So… it is a multipronged approach that has been taken. We are meeting with young people in the diaspora, as well, and engaging from that level. So, it is not a one-sided approach,” he adds.

The CRC has also given support to the establishment of a youth subcommittee, which will be made up of different young people across the country.

He explains that the idea behind this is to allow the process not to be a top-down approach, but one where young people can feed into the process of the CRC.

“So, that’s really to be a bridge between the committee and the youth and that is really how I see my role as a member of the committee, where I am facilitating the involvement of young people and not to just be a voice for young people,” Mr. Boswell says.

The CRC committee member notes that with the resumption of the new school year, the expectation is to really amplify those efforts and to get into more schools.

“We will be targeting particularly the high schools, as well as the universities. We’ll be partnering with the Jamaica Union of Tertiary Students at that level, and at the secondary school level we will be partnering with the National Secondary Students Council,” Mr. Boswell states.

He also informs that the Committee receives invitations to different fora, while citing as an example a visit to the Immaculate Conception High School in Kingston, where he was invited to speak on the constitutional reform process.

“One other thing that we made an appeal for, especially to young people, is not to just say that you want to participate, but actually come in; you know, make an appeal to the committee, as well to make a presentation to the committee to get your ideas across because the committee does hear submissions from the public,” Mr. Boswell says.

“I think that it is a meaningful way that young people can participate in the process. You do your research and then you present your findings or ideas or thoughts to the CRC. If you want to organise a local community conversation, that is a great way of building that civic involvement at the local level,” he adds.

Meanwhile, Mr. Boswell says to be a part of the CRC is a privilege, noting that serving Jamaica is one of the greatest things that can happen as a citizen and that “it is truly an honour”.

“It is something that I’m very grateful for, it is something that I’m humbled by. Coming from a community in Norwood, St. James, and to have been able to move to this point, it is really a privilege. As the youth representative, it is about engaging and being a bridge between the CRC and the young people,” he argues.

“I see myself as having equal footing on the committee. The points that are raised are accepted by the committee, whether they need to be debated or ventilated further. As youth advisor on the committee, there is equal footing and the points which have been raised, so far, have been supported by the committee,” he adds.

The Constitutional Reform Committee’s purpose is to provide expert guidance and oversight to the Government and people of Jamaica, during the Constitutional reform process, to implement recommendations on which consensus has been reached.