St. Vincent And Grenadines Case Study

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Case Study Saint Vincent and the Grenadines & Trinidad and Tobago Under the old colonial order when voting was restricted to those of property Voting was restricted to those of property. In other words, the political system reflected the interests of the propertied. However, with the advent of two major historical breakthroughs, the character of politics changed in the English speaking Caribbean region. Firstly, the Universal Adult Suffrage was fought and won during the period 1944 to 1953. As a result, all young people ages 21 years and older exercised their rights to vote. Secondly, in the 1970s, the voting age was lowered from the age 21 years to 18 years. Consequently, these events caused a ripple effect that positively impacted voters’ …show more content…

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations, 1984). So if our adolescents, youth and middle aged adults, can not enjoy these special rights during their transistion stages to late adulthood, how can they can recognition in their societies as full adults? In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago, young people are most sensitive to unemployment and the lack of opportunities for education and training. For instance, “Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have secondary education enrolment rates at or above 100%) as opposed to Trinidad and Tobago (from 103% to 89%)” (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2012). Education is still the most important priority since its foundation in youth development and the alleviation of many of youth social ills. But if the role of education is not appropriately addressed, the enormous gaps between Caribbean countries will continue to widen. Subsequently, youth voters may think of they are marginalized for less educated and skilled and no established careers to make informed decisions, hence they do not turn out to vote. So for us, this situation suggests that young people are somewhat alienated from engaging in the decision-making process on matters that mostly affect them. This alienation, albeit incidental or deliberate further suggests why young people are less inclined to get involve in the electoral cycle, leaving the older electorates (30 years and over) to continue to vote for their political partisans merely out of loyalty rather than

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