The Authorities of Antigua and Barbuda and the Worldwide Group for Migration (IOM), with the help of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Workplace have simply concluded a sequence of occasions to acknowledge and rejoice Worldwide Migrants Day 2023.
A panel dialogue dubbed “CONVERSATIONS on Migration within the Caribbean: Partaking Migrants” held on Friday, December 15, created the area for migrant panelists with roots in Dominica, Syria, and the Dominican Republic to share their experiences. The viewers included authorities officers from the Ministries of International Affairs and Labour, United Nations representatives, and civil society.
Different actions to acknowledge Worldwide Migrants Day included a multi-cultural household enjoyable truthful referred to as “Nations and Celebrations” which offered an area for migrant communities from numerous origins to showcase their meals, music, and different distinctive methods of celebrating festivities.
Whereas in Antigua, the IOM group additionally took the chance to have interaction with the general public through the media relating to the significance of Worldwide Migrants Day, and to fulfill with key stakeholders that expressed curiosity in contributing to future actions that might search to acknowledge and harness the potential of migrants as energetic contributors to sustainable improvement.
In his Opening Remarks on the panel dialogue, Minister of International Affairs, Commerce, Agriculture and Barbuda Affairs, E.P. Chet Greene emphasised that the twin-island State has a historical past of being welcoming to migrants. s a nation our migration legacy has all the time been one among welcoming others to our shores whether or not or not it’s as a consequence of financial hardship, pure disasters and even benign causes of tourism and funding. Regardless of the causes, migrants have all the time been welcomed, and in lots of cases, incentivized to turn out to be absolutely fledged and productive members of our society […] since we acknowledge that the nationwide well-being can solely be realized by the mixed efforts of all our residents, no matter their nation or origin.”
The panelists all shared their experiences as migrants in Antigua, which has turn out to be their second house. Coordinator of IOM’s Workplace within the Caribbean, Patrice Quesada moderated the dialogue. He mirrored on a number of the vital frequent messages that he obtained, “What they had been principally saying is that training, Objective 4 of the Sustainable Improvement Objectives has been one of the vital enablers and to then contribute to the event of the nation. However on the identical time, we additionally really feel that there are stereotypes. We additionally really feel that there’s a sure stage of discrimination that some migrants, sure nationalities are going through greater than others.”
UN Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the Japanese Caribbean Didier Trebucq acknowledged that “Migration, when approached strategically, can considerably contribute to regional prosperity. And to be efficient, it’s also important to develop campaigns to handle stigma, improve inclusion and tolerance.”
The actions of the previous weekend have impressed renewed vigor inside the Authorities of Antigua and Barbuda, IOM and different UN companies, in addition to migrant organizations, civil society and the personal sector, to work collectively deliberately, with a joint goal of fostering inclusive insurance policies that empower migrants and create a thriving and numerous society in Antigua and Barbuda.
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