REVIEW MEETING ON CSME SKILLED WORKERS REGIME FOR ARTISANS AND DOMESTIC WORKERS TO BE HELD THIS WEEK IN BARBADOS
Support Service Organisations from across the Caribbean will meet from March 6-9 to review the progress of implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) Free Movement of Skilled Workers for artisans and domestics. The meeting, facilitated by the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC), follows on the heels of the Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government held on February 26 and 27 in Nassau, Bahamas.
“The theme of the recent Heads of Government meeting in The Bahamas was ‘Leveraging CARICOM’s Human, Cultural and Natural Assets for the Economic Development of the Community’“, said CPDC Executive Director Shantal Munro-Knight. “The purpose of this meeting will be to examine the progress made in the CSME Free Movement of Skilled Workers Regime, a key component of the region’s economic development, and how civil society can influence its implementation in a meaningful way. The groups meeting this week have been participating in a project aimed at securing the rights of domestic workers and artisans under the Regime”.
The CPDC’s project ‘CSME Works for Domestics and Artisans‘ is aimed at improving the movement of artisans and domestic workers under the CSME Free Movement of Skilled Workers Regime and is funded by the Caribbean Aid for Regional Integration and Trade Fund (CARTFund) financed by Department for International Development (DFID) administrated by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
The agencies participating in this week’s meeting are from Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago. Each of the groups provide support to those household workers and artisans in their territories who wish to take full advantage of the regime.
“Even though these two groups of workers have been granted rights under the Free Movement Regime, governments throughout the CSME have been slow to implement the administrative procedures to make the regime a reality for artisans and domestic workers“, continued Ms. Munro-Knight. “At the conclusion of our session, we will present a Civil Society Response containing specific recommendations will assist with the implementation of the Regime and allow artisans and domestics to enjoy their rights under the regime in the same manner as the other categories of workers are currently able to do“.
Support to Barbados’ domestic workers and artisans has been provided in the project by the Barbados Workers’ Union who will be represented in this week’s sessions being held at the Blue Horizon Hotel.
