Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne said he appreciated the assistance the UN Network on Migration TT (UNNM-TT) would be able to give the government in managing the flow of migrants into and through the country.
He was speaking at the launch of the initiative on Monday at the Brix Hotel, Cascade.
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) was adopted worldwide in 2018, and local and regional migration mechanisms were formed as part of this agreement under the responsibility of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Browne said the number of migrants worldwide has grown dramatically as people flee famine, poverty, warfare, sometimes persecution and political turmoil, while many also seek improved circumstances for themselves and their families.
“As countries that become migrant destinations expand, the need for co-ordinated and collaborative efforts among countries and organisations becomes more urgent than ever before. No one entity can manage migration globally, including the TT government, especially if the ultimate aim is to ensure the safety of migrant populations, the manageable accommodation, integration and facilitation of new beginnings for those who had to leave their homeland, and support for systems in the countries they transit and the countries that receive them.
“I consider the work of the IOM, safeguarding the rights of migrants and providing assistance to source, transit, and destination countries, to be particularly crucial at this time. Collaboration between the PoS IOM and my ministry is therefore a matter of tremendous importance, constituting part of our commitment to regional integration efforts such as Caricom and regional instruments such as the GCM.”
Browne said facilitating the movement of people is an imperative for TT and the region.
“Unregulated flows are often impractical and have negative social, economic, and security impacts. As we seek to engage with partners to ensure that the delicate and problematic balance between managing the wellbeing of migrants and the perhaps unavoidable domestic concerns as a destination country is properly developed and maintained, the concerns of all constituents within the framework of migration must matter. TT welcomes the inception of the UNNM-TT and eagerly anticipates the support this partnership will bring to capacity-building, knowledge-sharing, information collection, data analysis, and the development of the national action plans.”
UN resident co-ordinator Dennis Zulu said the UNNMTT would lead to a more co-ordinated approach to migration, as the project would take into account specific factors unique to TT.
IOM PoS project manager Zeke Beharry said migration will not slow or stop, so it needed to be strategically managed to facilitate orderly, safe, responsible, and regular migration.
He said the UNNM-TT would co-ordinate the responses of 15 UN agencies and NGOs, with space for any other interested UN agencies. He said the network would encourage the government to endors
