CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana – Friday, 5 July 2024: The CARICOM Secretariat and the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), with technical support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), will host a critical workshop titled “Towards a Regional Approach to a Migration Policy in the Caribbean—Realizing A Shared Vision” from 8 – 10 July 2024 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. This initiative marks a significant stride in the development of a common regional policy to strategically leverage migration as a development tool for the Caribbean Community.
The technical workshop will bring together National Focal Points from the CARICOM Member States and representatives of relevant regional and international organizations. Building on IOM’s Migration Governance Indicator (MGI) assessments and other consultations held with national governments of CARICOM Member States in 2023 and ongoing in 2024, participants will work to design a migration policy framework that accurately reflects the needs and ambitions of the People of the Caribbean Community. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas will also guide deliberations.
Ms. Alison Drayton, Assistant Secretary-General, Human and Social Development, CARICOM Secretariat, noted that she was encouraged by the enthusiasm of Member States involved in the development of the Policy. “I am pleased that the process has adopted a ‘whole-of-government’ and a ‘whole-of-society” approach,” stated ASG Drayton. “Representatives from our Member States are involved in every aspect of the Policy’s development with the overarching aim of ensuring the Community’s voice resonates deeply in the final outcome”.
IOM’s Coordinator for the Caribbean, Patrice Quesada is pleased that the organization’s work is adding value to the process. “The MGIs were conducted in close collaboration with Member States; public servants in different areas of government fed all relevant information into the assessments, providing data on national policies and practices concerning migration, and identifying the areas of priority for improvement. One of the things we found through the 12 assessments conducted in the Caribbean, is that education and primary health care are already available for non-nationals in most countries. On the other hand, the MGI’s highlighted the need to strengthen the policy approaches to labour migration, to ensure that migration is used to strategically fill gaps in the labour market, without disadvantaging the citizens of the receiving Member State.”
It is expected that at the end of this workshop, there will be a completed draft roadmap for Member States and the Region. This document would include key milestones for developing and implementing a solid regional migration policy based on evidence and a draft action plan to advance migration governance in the Region.
The workshop, which is being undertaken with funding from the US State Department and IOM, contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SGD) 10, which aims to reduce inequalities between nations and peoples through safe, orderly, and regular migration.
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Editor’s Notes:
Why a Regional Migration Policy?
In February 2019, CARICOM Heads of Government at the 19th Special Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the CARICOM Community on Security mandated “the CARICOM Secretariat, along with CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), to collaborate with the relevant United Nations (UN) Agencies on the development of a Regional Migration Policy.” As a result, the CARICOM Secretariat engaged the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Network on Migration to support the Community in this effort. IOM activated the UN Network while the CARICOM Secretariat engaged multiple Community Institutions to create a steering committee and advisory group to provide broad international expertise and guidance.
Expected workshop participants:
The workshop will bring together representatives from the 15 CARICOM Member States, as well as relevant regional and international organizations, including the CARICOM Secretariat, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and multiple United Nations Agencies that participate in the UN Network on Migration, including IOM, International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Women, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and others.
Helpful links
Regional Policy Being Developed to Address Migration Priorities, Challenges and Opportunities
Second Workshop held to Develop Regional Migration Policy
https://caricom.org/second-workshop-held-to-develop-regional-migration-policy/
Process to Develop Regional Migration Policy Progressing
https://caricom.org/process-to-develop-regional-migration-policy-progressing/
Migration Governance Indicators – what are they?
https://gmdac.iom.int/migration-governance-indicators
Access validated MGI assessments and reports
https://www.migrationdataportal.org/dashboard-mgi-central-america-mexico-the-caribbean
