Dr. Robert Carr (23 February 1963 – 10 May 2011) was a Trinidadian (and at the age of 40 became a dual national of Jamaica) scholar and human rights activist who dedicated his life to bringing public attention to issues related to stigma and discrimination against persons living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.

The focus of Carr's publications was the intersectionality of poverty, homophobia, and human rights,[1] and what he recognized as their role in producing and perpetuating systemic sexually-based violence[2] and inadequate global, regional, and Jamaican responses to HIV/AIDS.

At the age of seven, Robert and his older sister, Carolyn, moved to Jamaica in April 1970 because their father accepted a position with the United Nations Pan American Health Organization.

Still a student at Meadowbrook High School, Carr pursued a part-time course in Poetry and Play Writing at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, in Jamaica.

In September 1998, his post-graduate education continued at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, where he completed a one-year Diploma in Social Work, graduating with distinction.

He acted as a panelist for numerous Congressional Briefings in Washington, D.C., worked with the LGBT Caucus and assisted with high-level meetings at the United Nations, as well as countless other global policy arenas.

His consulting work paved the way for a permanent opportunity with JASL as the Director of Targeted Interventions, and by November 2002, "he became Executive Director of Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, a national NGO serving Jamaican society's most disenfranchised populations, including prisoners, the hearing impaired, people who use drugs, sex workers, transgender people, and gay and other men who have sex with men.

Carr also felt that while targeted programs must address the issues of education, economics, health and wellbeing for vulnerable populations, the enabling environment that drove their marginalization—what he saw as "a constant assault on the humanity of gay and bisexual people from elected officials, homophobic dance hall artists,[10] and religious leaders who believe that gay rights are against God's will"[11]—must also be changed to facilitate their advancement.

He therefore worked with his dedicated team of activists to dismantle the homophobic attitudes and promote the establishment of a safer, more inclusive environment as a key component of their programs, particularly as it related to the national legal and policy frameworks that supported this marginalization.

His work as a human rights activist not only embraced this need for legislative and policy changes to remove discrimination and stigma but also the establishment of specific programs managed by marginalized groups to empower them and address their health and social needs.

'[12]Carr brought human rights activists together to formulate strategic plans to establish a Caribbean regional organization of vulnerable groups to strengthen their role as advocates, to empower them to address their priority health problems and to change the political, legal, economic and social environment that reinforces their persistent marginalization through stigma and discrimination, reinforcing, "'[t]he change has to come from within; it really has to be Caribbean people taking a stand against this kind of violence and abuse, and against...misinformed, emotionally based, irresponsible attempts at policy making.

Carr has used media interventions, a dedicated website page with resources, radio and television public service announcements, key spokespersons and research.

"[12] Described as a part of "a new generation of Caribbean and African descent intellectuals who form part of a larger formation of New World black intellectuals[,] two of the central themes of Carr's work—how geographical relationships of power have shaped the politics and the history of the New World and how black subjects have located themselves within those geographies of power[—]offer[ed] new models of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural analysis for both African American and Caribbean studies.

In addition to pioneering studies on the vulnerable populations that were the focus of his organizations' intervention programs, he was committed "to translating findings from research collaborations between community and academic partners into tangible policy development and advocacy efforts.