Achieving Human and Social Development through Policy Coherence is the theme of the feature address that will be delivered by Robert Kyloh, Senior Economist, ILO Headquarters, Geneva, when CARICOM Labour Ministers meet here today for the 19th Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD).

In addition to the feature address at the opening ceremony, remarks will be given by CARICOM Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington; Chair of COHSOD, Grenada’s Minister of Labour Anthony Hood; Guyana’s Minister of Labour, Manzoor Nadir and the Regional Director for the ILO Regional Office for Latin American and the Caribbean, Jean Maninat.

With its primary focus on labour in relation to the integration movement, the three-day COHSOD meeting is convened in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Seventh Meeting of Caribbean Labour Ministers under the theme: Coherence for Human and Social Development in the Caribbean Community: The Contribution of Labour Ministries and the Decent Work Agenda.

One issue that will be up for deliberations at the COHSOD meeting is that of free movement of labour and intra-regional migration. The COHSOD will need to consider those wage earners who do not fall within the ten eligible categories for movement under the CSME and still need work permits to work in other participating Member States. In this regard, the COHSOD will also discuss the role of ministries of Labour in the migration process as well as how best to manage labour migration within the context of regional integration.

The importance of developing human capital to strengthen the regional integration movement within a rapidly changing global world cannot be over-emphasised, consequently the COHSOD will examine thoroughly, the need to prepare young people for the world of work and the integral role of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Entrepreneurial Education in that preparation.

Contingent on this discussion is a detailed report on the outcomes of the first CARICOM Summit on Youth Development at which the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development( CCYD) presented its ‘watershed Report’ on the situation of youth in the Caribbean. This CCYD Report, among other things, presents a dilemma of youth under-employment within the Caribbean region and brings into sharp focus the relevance and appropriateness of the Caribbean education system in preparing young people for the job market. Therefore its implication for youth labour within the CSME assumes high significance for the COHSOD.

The COHSOD meeting will treat with other very important agenda items, which include an update on the post-Haiti crisis; a presentation from ILO on the contribution of ministries of labour in advancing human and social development through the Decent Work Agenda; issues relating to the harmonising of labour laws within the Caribbean to facilitate the regional integration movement; new challenges for social security systems in the Caribbean and the role and function of labour market information systems in the regional integration process.

The three-day COHSOD meeting will close with a general information sharing session on major related events and issues, followed by a press briefing in which the outcomes of the meeting will be shared with media representatives.