Transcript Slide 1

A Review of Movement of Persons During the Last
Decade under the Five Regimes of the CSME:
Successes, Challenges and the Way Forward
Caribbean Forum on Population, Migration and Development
Georgetown, Guyana, 9-10 July 2013
Presenter: Noel Watson
A-Z Information Jamaica Limited
9th July 2013
Overview of presentation
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ORIGINS AND BACKGROUND
STUDY FOR CARICOM 2010
CONTEXT, NATURE AND CHARACTER OF THE MOVEMENTS
CHALLENGES
IMPACT
RECOMMENDATIONS
WAY FORWARD
Objectives
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Understanding the Five Regimes of the CSME
Quantifying the movement
Understanding the character of the movement
Understanding the main implementation Issues
Successes
Challenges
The Way Forward
Origins : Free Movement of Persons
• Free movement of persons is a natural accompaniment to
regionalism
• Achievement of economic efficiency through the
unencumbered movement of the factors of production
• As an important factor, free movement of labour should lead
to greater economic efficiencies within regional economies
CSME Five
Regimes
Focus
Free Movement of Skills/Persons
10 Categories for free movement of skills:
Graduates - persons who have obtained
at least a Bachelor's Degree from a
recognised university. (Jan. 1996)
Nurses
July 2006
Musicians - persons who are active in or
Teachers
July 2006
qualified to enter a particular field of music
with the specific purpose to earn a
living. (July 1996)
Artistes - persons who are active in or
qualified to enter a particular field of art
with the specific purpose to earn a living.
(July 1996)
Media Persons - persons whose primary
source of income is drawn from media and
media-related work or persons who are
qualified to enter this field. (July 1996)
Artisans with CVQ - Skilled
Tradesperson, Craftsman or Worker
December 2007
Associate Degree holders (or 2 CAPE
Subjects)
December 2007
Sportspersons are persons who are
active in or qualified to enter a particular
field of sports with the specific purpose to
earn a living as a professional or semiprofessional. (July 1996)
Domestic Helpers/Housekeepers with
CVQ (2009)
Main Elements in Free Movement of
Skills
• Application/Issuing of a
Skilled National
Certificate (SNC)
• Verification of a Skilled
National Certificate
• SNC is verified in
receiving Member State
• Should not require
another certificate
• Skilled national is
granted indefinite stay
• SNC is instrument that
Skilled National uses to
exercise RIGHT
• Usually applied for in home
country
• But not a requirement
SNC Holder can move to
another Member State and look
for work and work
DEFINITE ENTRY = 6 Months
Based on Study Completed in 2010
• TITLE
• A CONSULTANCY TO ASSESS THE IMPACT OF FREE MOVEMENT OF
PERSONS AND OTHER FORMS OF MIGRATION ON MEMBER STATES
• FUNDING AGENCY
• EU Funded - EDP 9
• EXECUTING AGENCY
• CARICOM SECRETARIAT (CSME UNIT)
• PROGRAMME
• CARIBBEAN INTEGRATION SUPPORT PROGRAMME (CISP)
• CONSULTANTS
• A-Z INFORMATION JAMAICA LIMITED
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Dennis Brown
Noel Watson
Denise Leander-Watson
Lynette Joseph-Brown
Methodology
• Primary research
• Visited all 12 Member States
• Obtained data on SNCs from Competent Authority
• # Applications since year 2000 (or Inception)
• # Verifications
• Process
• Focus groups with SNC holders
• Analyzed data/information
Free Movement of Skilled Nationals:
Magnitude up to 2010
TABLE SHOWING MAGNITUDE OF CSME SKILLED NATIONALS
Country
Non-national
SNC holder
National SNC
holder
Total
Suriname
Belize
Grenada
Dominica
St. Kitts & Nevis
St. Vincent & Grenadines
St. Lucia
Barbados
Trinidad and Tobago
Jamaica
Guyana
18
57
62
136
151
50
280
762
1055
704
20
47
19
43
0
49
199
308
248
501
1098
2709
65
76
105
136
200
249
588
1010
1556
1802
2729
Total
3295
5221
8516
Number of Skilled Certificates Issued
Total 2013 compared to Total 2010
Country
Suriname
Belize*
Grenada*
Antigua & Barbuda
Dominica
St. Kitts & Nevis
St. Vincent & The Grenadines*
St. Lucia
Barbados*
Jamaica
Trinidad & Tobago
Guyana
Total
* Estimate
2013
90
105
145
187
226
269
364
893
1358
2600
3000
4605
13,844
2010
65
76
105
136
200
249
588
1010
1802
1556
2729
8,516
Work Permit Holders : Magnitude
Country of Issue
Guyana
Jamaica
Montserrat
St. Kitts & Nevis
St. Lucia CARICOM only
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago to 2010
Barbados
St. Vincent
Grenada
Dominica
Belize
Total
Up to
2005
493
3614
2006 2007
2008
2009
Total
4364 4508
5927 5575
384 382
278 445
1073 969
5084
308
815
965
2779
3569
436
1140
781
11651
20155
1510
2678
2788
3788
35051
341
588
834
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337
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1888
5400
1574
336
598
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381
600
740
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88057
Findings: Skilled National Certificate
• Different processes in each Member State
• Some highly manual
• Different Competent/Issuing Authorities
• Different fees
• Certificates look different in each Member State
• Some Member States issue a new certificate upon verification
others issue only a letter of verification
• Level of discomfort with approval process in other Member States
CHALLENGE: Lack of standardization and harmonization
Findings: Skilled National Certificate
Holders - Nature and Character
• Movement dominated by more educated persons
• Approx 75% of movers are university graduates
• More females than males- 55% female/45% male
• Under 35 = major age category
• As a general rule, main movement tends to be from less
developed/wealthy to more developed territories
Findings: Work Permit Holders –
Nature and Character of Movement
• Main labour recruiting facility in the region
• Male dominated
• Full range of skills, but skewed towards lower level skills
A lot more people move under Work Permit than under
Skilled National
So why are we so worried about Movement under this
Regime by persons from CARICOM
Implementation issues: Tensions
created by granting right of access
• Right of non-national to access national space on same terms
as citizens is new and requires new mind-set
• Some territories more accommodating than others
• Tendency of wealthier countries to deny or limit these rights
to citizens of less prosperous countries.
Impact: Positive
• Augmentation of human capital stock in a number of
territories
• Regulated movement of persons with skill into the territories
of the region is more conducive to orderly social development,
than undocumented movement
• Movement under CSME Regimes have not been associated
with undue pressure on the social institutional framework of
the receiving countries
• These territories have more than likely benefitted from the
inward movement of skills
Impact: Negative
• Depletion of human resource base of sending countries, e.g.
Guyana
Recommendations from 2010 Study
• Harmonize legislation across Member States as it relates to free
movement
• Harmonize administrative processes for applying for and
verifying Skilled National certificates across Member States
• Standardize Skilled National Certificates across the Region
• Augment the human resource capacity of the CSME Unit within
each Member State
• Seek technical assistance for countries that lack the capacity to
establish training and certification in the area of technical
vocation
• Conduct Public Education Campaigns throughout the region,
which provide detailed information on the CSME, its institutional
manifestations, how it works and benefits the ordinary citizen,
and what is immediately available and what is to come.
The Way Forward:
• Project
• CARICOM Trade and Competitiveness Project
• FUNDING AGENCY
• CIDA
• EXECUTING AGENCY
• CARICOM SECRETARIAT (CSME UNIT)
• PROGRAMME CONTENTS
• Component 100
• Administrative Reform
• Legislative Reform
• Component 200
• Arrangement to ensure full participation of artisans through standardised
licensing and certification and mutual recognition of licenses and certificates
• Component 300
• Creation of the infrastructure for stakeholder participation in the CSME decisionmaking and implementation processes
12 Member States
Antigua and Barbuda
Grenada
Saint Lucia
Barbados
Guyana
Saint Vincent and
Grenadines
Belize
Jamaica
Suriname
Target Market
Dominica
Saint Kitts and
Nevis
Trinidad and Tobago
The End
Free Movement of Capital
Thank you very much
Facilitation of Travel
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The agreements in the Revised Treaty can be divided into two main parts, namely;
1. Free Movement for the purposes of engagement in gainful economic activity and
2. Hassle-Free Travel / Facilitation of Travel
Free movement for gainful economic activity within the CSME is available to wage earners, self-employed persons
and to persons establishing companies and other types of business organizations.
The main changes brought about by the CSME are;
• the abolition of the work permit,
• the introduction of the CARICOM Certificate of Recognition of Skills Qualification, (CARICOM Skills Certificate)
• definite entry for 6 months,
• indefinite stay in a Member State and
• the right to transfer one’s social security benefits from one CARICOM State to another.
Hassle free travel is a necessary condition for persons to fully enjoy the rights connected to movement for the
purposes of engagement in gainful economic activity. It includes;
• the Common ED Card
• the CARICOM Line at immigration points
• abolition of the need for a visa and
• the CARICOM Passport
The Cairo Consensus
• The 1994 International Conference on Population and
Development (ICPD) in Cairo was a milestone in
 the history of population and development,
 the history of women's rights.
• At the conference the world agreed that population is not just
about counting people, but about making sure that every
person counts.
Cairo Consensus cont’d.
• ICPD delegates agreed that the equality and empowerment of
women is a global priority from the perspective of:
universal human rights
an essential step towards eradicating poverty and stabilizing
population growth
A woman’s ability to access reproductive health and rights is
cornerstone of her empowerment and the key to sustainable
development.
Cairo Consensus cont’d.
• A total of 179 governments signed up to the
ICPD Programme of Action which set out to do
the following:
Provide universal access to family planning and sexual
and reproductive health services and reproductive
rights;
Deliver gender equality, empowerment of women and
equal access to education for girls;
Address the individual, social and economic impact of
urbanization and migration;
Support sustainable development and address
environmental issues associated with population
changes