Managed migration under microscope

Barbados and other countries in the region are being positioned to better manage migration, as local officials continue to look for ways to bolster the island’s labour force and mitigate the fallout from an ageing population and declining birth rate.

On Friday, Barbados and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) signed an agreement that will see the establishment of an IOM country office for the Caribbean in Bridgetown.

Inking the deal at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade were Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds and Regional Director for Central and North America and the Caribbean at the IOM Michele Klein Solomon.

Symmonds said the creation of the office, which will eventually be staffed with about eight people, formed part of efforts at the national, regional and hemispheric levels to create conditions for safe, orderly,humane and regular migration.

Stating that well-managed and regulated migration had the potential to help with economic development, Symmonds said “countries like Barbados with an ageing population, may in years to come, need migrants to fill crucial gaps in our labour market”.

He said the agreement had the potential to help the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) harness the benefits of regular migrations associated with climatic events, as was evident with hurricanes Erma, Maria and Dorian, and migration triggered by civil instability in the region such as in Venezuela and Haiti.

Noting that migration had the ability to destabilise small states, Symmonds said the support being provided by the IOM to put a regional migration policy in place was welcomed.

The 12-page agreement has three main strategic objectives – to increase the opportunities for legal migration; a commitment by the IOM to the continued dissemination of expertise to reorient national development policies and international development corporation to take migration into account and to create opportunities for people to live and work in dignity in the region; and strengthening of international cooperation to combat migrant smuggling and human trafficking and to protect the victims of such.

Symmonds said failure to better organise and facilitate migration could open up countries in the region to illicit activities and nefarious individuals.

Klein Solomon agreed that well-managed migration had the potential to foster economic and social growth and development.

Lauding CARICOM for extending the categories of individuals allowed to move and work freely within the region, Klein Solomon said the IOM was eagerly looking forward to deepening its relations with CARICOM to ensure full free movement of individuals in the region was realised.

“This is an enormous step and one that I believe will foster economic and social growth and integration and stability. There will be positive benefits and also resilience against shocks that may come, whether economic, environmental or otherwise,” she said.

She said the IOM was committed to helping the region with the implementation of an evidence-based migration policy.

“Furthermore, we are committed to the opening of our office here in Barbados to support your government directly with its own reflection on how migration can contribute to the sustainable development of Barbados, to a green economic transition, to alleviating the impact of immigration of skilled workers,” she said.

The IOM, which is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, also has an office in Guyana. However, officials said the focus of regional coordination will be shifted from that South American office to Barbados, which will welcome its first set of staff next week. (MM)