Dialogue on population impacts and policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Caribbean

Because of the most serious pandemic the world has experienced in the last hundred years, governments, international organizations, the private sector, and civil society organizations have been searching for solutions and alternatives to curb the spread of COVID-19 and confront its economic and social consequences. Many measures adopted by governments to curb the spread of the virus, such as quarantines and confinement of people, have generated a considerable contraction in economic activity. This has had a particularly harsh impact on certain population groups including youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, migrants and women among others, exacerbating the conditions of vulnerability that affect and impair their rights.

In this context, and considering the postponement of the Fourth Meeting of the Regional Conference, the Presiding Officers will hold a virtual dialogue on Tuesday 8th December, with the support of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in its role as Technical Secretariat of the RCPD, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The dialogue will analyze the socio-demographic situation in the Caribbean in the framework of the COVID-19 crisis and its possible impacts—in the short, medium and long term—on population groups in situations of vulnerability, in light of the priority actions of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development and the objectives and goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.