Mandeville, Jamaica | Nigel Coke / IAD News Staff |
Floyd Morris, a member of the Andrews Memorial Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica, was elected a member of the United Nations Committee for Persons with Disabilities. The election took place on Monday, November 30, 2020.
Morris who is visually impaired, is the first Jamaican to be elected to the Committee, which is a body of independent experts who monitor the implementation of the Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the states/countries who are signatories. He was among nine persons elected to the committee to replace those whose terms are due to expire on Dec. 31, 2020.
The Committee comprises 18 independent experts, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner, which indicates that each member must be a person of high moral character and recognized competence in the field of human rights.
“I am extremely elated at my election to this high-level committee at the United Nations. This is what one receives when you put your faith and trust in God as he promised that when we put our faith and trust in Him, He will lead and direct our path,” said Morris.
In 2017, Morris received the Doctor of Philosophy Degree (PhD) from the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Kingston, Jamaica. He is member of the Jamaican Senate, Caribbean Community (Caricom) Special Rapporteur on Disability and a lecturer and director of the Centre for Disability Studies at University of the West Indies.
“Senator Morris has been a national asset to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the nation at large,” said Pastor Everett Brown, president of the Adventist Church in Jamaica. “He has been a trailblazer for the disabilities community in Jamaica. His passion for the rights and wellbeing of persons with disabilities is without question and he is the ideal person to represent the interest of those persons globally. Our prayers are with him as he advocates on behalf of the disabilities community.”
