BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Caribbean regional coordinator for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Patrice Quesada, says Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are re-evaluating migration policies as a key pillar of economic survival,
Caribbean regional coordinator for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Patrice Quesada. (UN Photo)Quesada said the CARICOM member states are currently developing a regional migration policy aimed at addressing labour mobility, demographic decline and climate-related displacement.
Speaking at the launch of the UN Eastern Caribbean 2025 Annual Results Report, Quesada said declining demographics were affecting countries throughout the region, while labour shortages continued to place pressure on critical sectors.
“Some sectors are in stress in most of the countries. You can think of construction, the health sector and tourism,” he said, noting that migration policies would also need to reflect the specific development needs of individual countries.
“The discussion has matured to a point that governments are looking at it as a development strategy. What migration could bring in addition to skilling in the agricultural sector, for instance, to help meet the need and supporting food security.”
Quesada said the UN’s role is to support member states through the process, adding that migration and demographic decline were now being recognised as major regional trends shaping the Caribbean.
“Migration is part of the cooperation framework and is recognised there alongside demographic decline as one of the mega trends that is shaping the Caribbean,” Quesada said, making reference to St Lucia’s upcoming national migration policy launch as a possible model for other Caribbean countries.
“That was seen as a pilot of how countries in the region could develop through an all-of-society, all-of-government approach, something that will fit the specific needs of each country because while we see that there are trends across the Caribbean,” Quesada said, adding that governments were still in consultation about what changes would need to be incorporated into the implementation of a regional migration framework.
“What does it mean to integrate someone in society? How to make sure it’s a win-win? How to make sure that instead of having people that come in an irregular way and that do not pay taxes, but that also exploit them, that expose themselves to exploitation, do you ensure that you have regular pathways so they contribute to the tax system and that they help the economy to grow? That’s the type of questions that the member states have in front of them right now.”
Quesada said that climate change s another major driver of migration within the Caribbean, telling the audience that “part of the current structure of the migration policy that has been developed by CARICOM is looking at the climate change impact because besides demographic decline, climate change is probably the second biggest driver or mega trend affecting the Caribbean”.
He said that while rising sea levels remained a concern, Caribbean countries were more immediately vulnerable to displacement caused by extreme weather events such as hurricanes and droughts.
“More acute for the Caribbean is displacement situations that are related to extreme weather events, and we think about hurricanes, but you can also think, and we will have to see what happens this season, droughts and drought situations across the space.”
The IOM official also made reference to the outward migration from Dominica following the passage of Hurricane Maria in 2017, as well as Barbuda’s inability to fully recover after several hurricanes.
“We know that those impacts are also there and we know that there needs to be discussion not only on how to address that from a humanitarian or disaster response standpoint,” he said.
He said that’s the work that the UN is doing with the Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) “for instance, with member states who have protocols for people moving from one island to another during an extreme weather event during a big hurricane for instance, but also more long term types of strategy on recovery, on ensuring that people have a choice instead of migrating.”
