Free Movement of Skill
For more than 50 years there have been efforts to unite the Caribbean on several fronts.
In the early 60s the Federation failed. 20-odd years later another attempt at unification was discussed and strategized, but attempts at fulsome execution have not really materialised. Leaders have come and gone, but the achievement of full Caribbean integration remains an illusive goal.
In 1989 then Secretary General of CARICOM, Roderick Rainford, told leaders, “Experience has taught us by now that the quest for integration is something in the nature of an epic struggle, a struggle for congruence between what we proclaim and what we are able to do, a struggle to negotiate, design and erect structures of co-operation and integration where national interest and regional purpose are brought into harmony.”
He was at the time addressing the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government (annual CARICOM) at Grand Anse in Grenada.
A more concise definition of integration was and remains hard to come by. So when on January 30 2006, another Secretary General of CARICOM, this time in the person of Trinidadian Dr Edwin Carrington, chose to repeat these words at the formal launch of the CARICOM Single Market (the economy segment was not ready to be launched at the time), he was telegraphing to the leaders gathered in Kingston, Jamaica the need to keep pushing Caribbean integration forward.
The Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) is intended to benefit the people of the region by providing more and better opportunities to produce and sell our goods and services and to attract investment. It is supposed to create one large market among the participating member states.
Main objectives of the CSME are-: full use of labour and full exploitation of the other factors of production; competitive production leading to greater variety and quantity of products and services to trade with other countries. It is expected that these objectives would in turn provide improved standards of living and work and sustained economic development.
Prior to its launch the Single Market had generated a lot of discussion and expectation all along the archipelago and was seen in the region as a truly fantastic accomplishment, moreso as it signalled a coming together of Caribbean people, something which had evaded them for decades.
Dr Carrington, in his launch address said, “That is what the Single Market and the Single Economy to come, are intended to do. That imperative, so clearly foreseen then, remains no less urgent in today’s world, one which presents us as small, developing countries the stark choice – integrate or perish.
Although his tenure at CARICOM has come to an end, the words of Dr Carrington ring true “integrate or perish”. Some countries in the region still lag behind in so far as their legislation and connected framework are concerned and since the global financial crisis of 2008-09 has thrown many of them into an economic tailspin, survival, rather than integration, has become their highest priority.
Although the Grande Anse Declaration of 1989 was when the free movement of skills initiative was born, there arose the need to modify it as time went by to facilitate implementation of the mandate of the Declaration. After some deliberation and dialogue, it was decided to implement free movement of skills in a phased system, although it is recognised by all that the ultimate goal is free movement for all. This meant however that Member states had to complete a number of legal steps, including enacting and proclaiming legislation and put in place the necessary administrative and procedural framework.
In January 1996, CARICOM nationals who were university graduates were allowed to move about freely in the region for work purposes. Six months later the Conference widened the categories of professionals and workers to be allowed free movement to include sports persons, artistes and media workers.
Now more than a decade later, the freedom of movement of people within the region is still far from being universal, with each country interpreting the various Conference mandates in different ways. In a way the barriers that are being put up by some island states is a straight case of protection of turf.
Since the purpose and true aim of the CSME were never properly articulated to citizens of the various countries that make up CARICOM, there was, and still is, the underlying belief that “people from outside” were coming to take jobs from nationals, a situation which prevails today in many countries in the region.
However, to subdue that belief, the Conference agreed to an initiative that was critical to the process of free movement of people – the Certificate of Recognition of CARICOM Skills Qualification, more commonly referred to as the Skills Certificate. Persons in the particular categories who were to take advantage of the free movement of persons and skills in the region are advised to arm themselves with their Skills Certificate.
In every CARICOM country there are designated government ministries with the responsibility of issuing the Skills Certificate. But although this document can be issued either by a ministry of agency in the home country as well as the host country, experience has shown that it is better to have the certificate when you leave your homeland. Again, there might be different views as to the issuing authority in the host country.
Over time however, there has not developed any kind of equality in persons moving around the region freely seeking job or business opportunities. In many instances movement is dictated by prevailing economic conditions in any one country which compels nationals to migrate and settle in another island state whose economic fortunes are better. Once settled in and having consolidated their positions, they encourage immediate family members, relatives and friends to join them.
What happens in these circumstances, the new arrivals do not conform to the accepted categories and impact seriously on the host country’s social services – education, health, housing etc. – stretching them to limits that were never envisioned by government or agency planners.
True, there’s the other argument, that migrants who work, pay taxes and put money into the economy through local spending – food, transportation, rents and leases of vehicles and accommodations and participation in paid social and sporting activities.
There is also the serious question of remittances – monies earned that are sent back to the migrants’ homeland to support families or pay off debts left behind. This double-edged sword hurts the economy of the host country, but supports that of the recipient economy.
As we enter the second decade of the new millennium, Caribbean integration in large part remains an illusion. Global circumstances have seriously slowed down the process. However, present day Caribbean leaders must share some of the blame that their indecision and lack of political will has served to stymie the integration movement, still recognised as an imperative to the sustainable development of Caribbean peoples.
