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Wednesday 22 april 2020

United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC):

ECLAC explores role of Caribbean Ministries of Social

Development during COVID 19

the Caribbean to climate- held online, was attended
related natural disasters. by ministers and senior de-
Moreover, the looming cision makers from Anguil-
2020 hurricane season, la, Antigua and Barbuda,
PORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD subregion attended as well cal equipment, medicines which starts in less than Aruba, The Bahamas, Bar-
— Social protection sys- as heads of UN agencies, or their ingredients. three months, places the bados, British Virgin Islands,
tems are coming under funds and programmes. subregion and its people at Cayman Islands, Curaçao,
considerable pressure with It is expected that CO- greater risk, even as it grap- Dominica, Grenada, Gua-
the implementation of miti- Addressing the ministers of VID-19 will affect the job ples with the impacts of the deloupe, Guyana, Haiti,
gation strategies to control Social Development of the market by increasing un- pandemic. Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint
the spread of COVID-19 in Caribbean, ECLAC Execu- employment and under- Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lu-
the Caribbean. Efforts to tive Secretary, Alicia Bárce- employment, and impact In this context, it was con- cia, Saint Vincent and the
mitigate the negative ef- na, underscored that “in the quality of work, by sidered urgent that poli- Grenadines, Sint Maarten,
fect of the pandemic on urgent circumstances such reducing wages and ac- cies be fully coordinated Suriname, Trinidad and To-
the well-being of those as those we now face, it is cess to social protection to address the health crisis, bago, Turks and Caicos
most at risk are now under- you, the leaders respon- for the most vulnerable which has brought grave Islands, and the United
way across the Caribbean. sible for social welfare, who groups, such as informal socio-economic impacts. States Virgin Islands.
are charged with finding sector workers. The loss of ECLAC called for regional
Attention is being given in solutions to the needs of labour income will translate coordination and coop- Following an introduction
particular to those most ec- those living on the street, into lower consumption of eration in the face of the and presentation of the
onomically vulnerable, no- persons with disabilities, mi- goods and services, and pandemic, taking into ac- social and economic situa-
tably women, youth, older grants, and senior citizens”. could drive many workers count the Regional Agen- tion of the region by ECLAC
persons, persons with dis- into poverty. da for Inclusive Social De- Executive Secretary, Alicia
abilities and migrant popu- The meeting recognized velopment (RAISD) agreed Bárcena, each country
lations. that the crisis will affect The novel coronavirus will by the member countries representatives had the
several social sectors, in- also disrupt activities in ed- of the Conference in Mex- opportunity to briefly pres-
The Economic Commis- cluding health, labour and ucational establishments, ico City, in October 2019. ent the actions being taken
sion for Latin America and education, with a dispro- and will have a significant by their respective govern-
the Caribbean (ECLAC), as portionate impact on vul- impact on learning, espe- The meeting, which was ments. q
part of its outreach under nerable people with un- cially for children in rural
the auspices of the Presid- derlying health conditions, areas in light of existing dis-
ing Officers of the Regional older people, unemployed parities in access to digital
Conference on Social De- youth, underemployed, devices and broadband
velopment in Latin America women, unprotected work- Internet. More generally,
and the Caribbean, con- ers and migrant workers. the limited access to ICT
vened a virtual meeting on implies a low level of readi-
21 April 2020 to offer coun- In the Caribbean, medi- ness in the subregion to
tries an opportunity to share cal and health facilities are operate in a virtual environ-
information on the actions insufficient for the level of ment in the current crisis.
being taken to meet this potential demand and are
challenge, and on poten- heavily dependent on im- High dependency on food
tial areas for collaboration ports of equipment and in- imports creates additional
and support. Representa- puts. This is a major problem challenges in terms of food
tives of Caribbean regional because, to date, 24 coun- security; challenges that
organizations and UN Resi- tries around the world have are further aggravated by
dent Coordinators of the restricted exports of medi- the specific vulnerability of