The Challenges of Immigrant Policy Formation in Trinidad and Tobago: A Civil Society Perspective View Digital Media

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Michał Pawiński  

In 2019, the government of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) embarked on a Venezuelan Registration Exercise with over 16,000 Venezuelan nationals registered. The migratory flows such as the present experience have highlighted the weaknesses in the existing national policy framework of Trinidad and Tobago. The inclusion of Civil Society Organizations in the process of policy formation has been limited while communication with governmental stakeholders to solve the challenges underwhelming. The present study conducted interviews with 12 Civil Society Organizations in T&T with the objective of identifying the challenges of forming and implementing migrant policy, their experience with political stakeholders, and expectations of future collaboration. The research findings propose the need for the Civil Society Network in T&T and the Caribbean region to address the continued increase in migratory crisis.