Action Plan to Be Developed to Guide Policy for IRMs

An action plan is to be developed to guide policy for involuntarily returned migrants (IRMs), when the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) concludes a Best Practice Symposium.

Speaking at a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) Think Tank on January 12, Technical Specialist for Socio-Economic Development in the Community Renewal Programme at the PIOJ, Charmaine Brimm, disclosed that a ‘Learning Exchange’ will take place on January 29, following the conclusion of the symposium on January 28.

“We will pull a smaller group of persons for us to delve deeper into all that had been discussed over the two days and also to develop a plan of action that will inform the way forward, laying out some practical short and medium-term actions that will be carried out to support the reintegration and rehabilitation of the returned migrants,” Ms. Brimm explained.

She added that bringing together the major speakers and key stakeholders will be critical, not only to develop an action plan for IRMs, but also for persons who were previously in conflict with the law.

“We expect that we will have the Ministry of National Security and Peace at the table in the conversation. A number of our speakers who are coming with that expertise in terms of reintegration and rehabilitation, and the Department of Correctional Services for sure, will be at that table,” she said.

Ms. Brimm noted that the Learning Exchange will focus on examining Jamaica’s current situation and identifying priority actions.

“What the Learning Exchange is intended to go into is what is the situation in Jamaica and what are some of the key things that need to be done. So, for instance, there’s a policy… the policy that is focused on reintegration. We know the Government has the policy, but they also have an implementation plan,” she outlined.

She said participants will review actions already identified in the policy to determine which are ready for implementation and whether funding is in place.

“So, we want to look at some of those actions in the policy. We want to see which ones are ready for implementation. We want to see where the budget is behind it, because part of implementation, what is so important to that, is the budget,” she noted.

Ms. Brimm indicated that in the short term, some actions could be implemented within 30 to 60 days.

“So, if we’re talking about a short term, we would certainly expect within 30 to 60 days, so about a month or two to just implement some things,” she said.

“We have to appreciate that some of the actions that I would imagine will emerge are going to have short, medium and long-term timelines. What we would want to see, though, is seamless transition. I would imagine a turnaround time within 30 to 60 days because we should come from the Learning Exchange with an actionable action plan,” she added.

Ms. Brimm cautioned that where funding is not yet allocated, implementation may take more time, “but we will be able to lobby and that’s where we’re bringing in the private sector”.