Jamaica Signs Treaties at UN

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. A. J. Nicholson on Sept. 25 signed two treaties at the United Nations.

They are: the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biodiversity; and Amendment to Article 8 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international agreement which aims to ensure the safe handling, transport and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on biological diversity, taking also into account, risks to human health.

Adopted in Montreal in January 2000, the Convention is as a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity and was entered into force on September 11, 2003.

A second generation human rights instrument, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination was adopted and opened for signature by the UNGA on December 21, 1965, and entered into force on January 4, 1969.

It commits members to the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of understanding among all races.As of October 2011, it had 86 signatories and 175 parties.

Minister Nicholson is attending the 67th Session of the UNG in New York and returns to Jamaica on September 28.