The Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) has welcomed the Ministry of Labour and Social Security on the tabling in Parliament of a white paper for the revised National Policy for Senior Citizens, which will seek to lessen poverty among the nation’s elderly.

“We view this as a vital step toward ensuring not only the protection of our seniors, but also to facilitate real improvements in their quality of life – which will be beneficial to all Jamaicans,” said Jean Lowrie Chin, the CCRP’s founder and executive chair.

Lowrie Chin noted that the CCRP had been appealing for an Elderly Protection Act, to encompass a Commission and a Court for the Elderly among other provisions. 

A proposal to this effect was submitted, and the organisation met with Labour and Social Security Minister Karl Samuda and Permanent Secretary Collette Roberts Risden last November.

At that meeting, a decision was taken to form a working committee towards this end, and CCRP was invited to appoint a member.

“CCRP Board Director Patricia Reid Waugh has been named to the MLSS Working Committee,” Lowrie Chin said.

She noted that the CCRP was also heartened at Information Minister Fayval Williams’ announcement that the revised National Policy for Seniors has been tabled and will be implemented over a period of 10 years.

The CCRP collaborates with the National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC) on various projects and Lowrie Chin said the organisation was confident that the monitoring and implementation to be undertaken by the NCSC would be efficiently carried out.

In Jamaica, the cohort of persons 60 years and over has grown to 312,721, according to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica’s 2019 figures, and is projected to account for 16 per cent of the population by 2030 and 22 per cent by 2050.

Founded in 2010, CCRP is a non-profit, non-denominational and non-political membership organization, aiming at the empowerment and protection of Jamaica’s seniors.