LOS ANGELES, CMC – Four Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders on Friday joined their counterparts from Latin America, the United States and Canada in signing the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection.

The Heads of Government of Barbados, Jamaica, Belize and Haiti gathered with 16 other counterparts in Los Angeles, California, on the margins of the Ninth Summit of the Americas, to reiterate their will to “strengthen national, regional, and hemispheric efforts to create the conditions for safe, orderly, humane, and regular migration and to strengthen frameworks for international protection and cooperation.”

“We embrace the need to promote the political, economic, security, social, and environmental conditions for people to lead peaceful, productive, and dignified lives in their countries of origin,” the declaration states.

It added that “migration should be a voluntary, informed choice and not a necessity.”

The leaders said they were committed to protecting the safety and dignity of all migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless persons, regardless of their migratory status, and respecting their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The leaders also acknowledged that addressing irregular international migration requires a regional approach, and that ongoing health, social, and economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbate the root causes driving irregular migration, including the vulnerabilities of many migrants and their communities.

The Declaration said further that:

“We value the tradition of our region in welcoming refugees and migrants and showing solidarity with our neighbors.

“We recognise the positive contributions of refugees and migrants to the socio-economic development of their host communities.

“We recognise the sustained efforts of States in our hemisphere in hosting refugees, providing regular migration pathways, promoting local economic and social integration, facilitating safe, dignified and voluntary return, and supporting the sustainable reintegration of returnees”.

The leaders said they remain committed to collectively leveraging the benefits of migration while addressing its challenges in countries and communities of origin, transit, destination and return.

The heads of states and government also said they intend to strengthen the institutions that are responsible for migration management in their respective countries and to exchange best practices in order to provide “efficient and adequate care to migrants and access to protection for refugees.”

They affirmed that countries of origin and countries and communities hosting large numbers of migrants and refugees may need international financing and assistance related to development, basic humanitarian needs, protection, security, public health, education, financial inclusion, and employment, among others.

In addition, the leaders said they support efforts that allow all migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and persons in situations of vulnerability to integrate into host countries and access legal identity, regular status, dignified employment, public services, and international protection, when appropriate and in accordance with national legislation, to rebuild their lives and contribute to those communities.

They plan to continue efforts to prevent and reduce statelessness, and intend to expand efforts to address the root causes of irregular migration throughout the hemisphere, improving conditions and opportunities in countries of origin and promoting respect for human rights.

The declarants also pledged to improve regional cooperation mechanisms for law enforcement cooperation, information sharing, protection-sensitive border management, visa regimes and regularization processes, as appropriate and in accordance with national legislation.

In addition, they plan to strengthen and expand temporary labor migration pathways, as feasible, that benefit countries across the region, including through new programs promoting connections between employers and migrant workers, robust safeguards for ethical recruitment, and legal protections for workers’ rights.

The Declaration builds on existing efforts and international commitments, and advances the vision set forth in the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) anchored in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“We make this Declaration of non-legally binding commitments to enhance cooperation and shared responsibilities on managing migration and protection in ways grounded in human rights, transparency, nondiscrimination and State sovereignty,” the leaders said.

During the endorsement event, United States President Joe Biden said that, by signing the Declaration, the 20 countries are transforming their approach to managing migration in the Americas.

“Each of us is signing up to commitments that recognise the challenges we all share and the responsibility that impacts on all of our nations. It’s going to take all of our nations working together in partnership to address this migration issue,” said Biden.

“And no nation should bear this responsibility alone, in my view — our view. The economic futures depend on one another. Each of our futures depend on one another,” he added.

Biden said the security of the region is “linked in ways that I don’t think most people in my country fully understand; and maybe not in your countries as well”.

Biden noted that the Los Angeles Declaration is built around four core pillars: Stability and assistance – making sure the communities that are welcoming refugees can afford to care for them, to educate them; medical care, shelter and job opportunities; increasing pathways for legal migration throughout the region, as well as protections for refugees and working together to implement more humane and coordinated border management systems; and making sure leaders work together to respond to emergencies.

The US President noted that safe, orderly and legal migration “is good for all our economies”.

And, he said “unlawful migration is not acceptable, and we’ll secure our borders, including through innovative, coordinated actions with our regional partners”.

For example, Biden said Washington will provide more than US$300 million in new funding in humanitarian assistance for countries in the region, “so when migrants arrive on their doorstep, they can provide a place to stay, make sure migrants can see a doctor, find opportunities to work so they don’t have to undertake the dangerous journey north”.