Security & Strategic Review - November 2021

The United Nations (UN) International Organisation for Migration (IOM) convened a conference in Dominica from 4-6 October at which its report on Migration, Environment, Disasters and Climate Change Data in the Eastern Caribbean was presented and debated. The purpose of the conference was to discuss improvements in the way data is gathered in order to help decision-making and planning for climate resilience in the six independent member states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) – Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. The conference also heard why this is of such pressing importance; how current arrangements for free movement can be improved; and why the international community needs to be more flexible in the way it allocates assistance to the vulnerable small island states (SIDS) of the Caribbean.