IOM Caribbean Strategy launched at first ”CONVERSATIONS ON MIGRATION IN THE CARIBBEAN” led by IOM Deputy Director General Ugochi Daniels
On 25 July 2023, the IOM Coordination team for the Caribbean celebrated a milestone culminating months of consultations with the launch of the IOM Strategy for the Caribbean (2023-2026) under the theme “Migration for Sustainable Development in the Caribbean”. The strategy was launched during the first episode of a virtual series of panel discussions Conversations on Migration in the Caribbean which was moderated by IOM’s Deputy Director General, Ugochi Daniels.
Michele Klein-Solomon, Regional Director for North America, Central America and the Caribbean introduced the strategy, recognizing the context of Freedom of Movement within CARICOM:
"We're at a pivotal point in our relationship with the Caribbean and for the first time, the organization has developed a specific strategy to guide our work in the region through 2026.
“As we implement this strategy, I would like to recognize the historic announcement at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Caribbean Community, CARICOM earlier this month promoting freedom of movement of CARICOM citizens by March of next year.
“This is a most welcome and historic development. We're very excited about what this will mean in practice and how we can help facilitate."
The goal of the IOM Caribbean strategy is to contribute towards enhanced resilience, well-managed mobility, and governance in the context of migration in the English- and the Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries.
Andrew Selee, President of the Migration Policy Institute was a guest of IOM’s DDG in Episode 01 of the Conversations on Migration in the Caribbean. He congratulated IOM on developing the Caribbean strategy, and joined the organization in recognizing the centrality of migration to Caribbean development:
“I think the Caribbean just receives far too little attention on migration, and it is one of the most migration-rich areas, both in terms of historical experience but also in terms of policies and in terms of of ways of thinking about how you actually have safe, orderly, regular migration among countries.” - Andrew Selee, Migration Policy Institute.
The IOM Strategy for the Caribbean focuses on four interrelated areas for cooperation to build resilience and better manage mobility, capturing the Organization’s analysis of the current state of human mobility in the Caribbean and in response to the evolution of migration trends in the region. The four interconnected priority areas are:
1. Resilience to climate change and disaster-related human mobility
2. Resilience to negative socio-economic drivers of migration
3. Protection of people on the move and humane governance of borders
4. Labour mobility and human development
The strategy is also underpinned by a governance pillar, cross-cutting in nature and responding to the need for evidence-based policy and communication as well as genuine collaborative partnerships. Important cross-cutting themes include
• Diasporas
• Localization
• Youth and gender
• Social protection
• Human rights
• People living with disabilities
• Security
