Carib Scope

标签： Barbados

巴巴多斯

  • BEC to Govt: Give us enough notice for wage hikes, legal changes

    BEC to Govt: Give us enough notice for wage hikes, legal changes

    On Monday, the Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC) raised formal concerns that the accelerated rollout of recent policy changes including minimum wage hikes and new paternity leave requirements is placing unmanageable logistical and financial pressure on local businesses, calling for more deliberate, forward-planning for future labour market reforms.

    BEC Executive Director Sheena Mayers-Granville clarified in an interview with Barbados TODAY that the nation’s employer association does not oppose expanding worker protections and benefits in principle. Instead, the core grievance centers on the abrupt timeline for implementing changes, which has left private sector operators scrambling to adjust. The most pressing issue cited is the rapid series of minimum wage increases, which were rolled out twice in 12 months – first last year, and a second upward adjustment this past January.

    “One of the things we have consistently advocated for is adequate notice for changes in legislation, changes in wage policy, because employers need time to adjust and adapt,” Mayers-Granville explained. Beyond the direct upward pressure on labour costs that comes with mandatory wage increases, abrupt policy shifts create unexpected technical challenges for many operations, she added. A large number of businesses rely on automated payroll and human resources systems that require time-consuming updates to reflect new wage structures, adjusted social security contribution rates or modified tax obligations. Rushed timelines leave no room for these critical system adjustments, creating additional operational friction for small and medium-sized enterprises in particular.

    Mayers-Granville also emphasized that sustainable wage growth cannot be disconnected from broader productivity trends across the Barbadian economy. While she acknowledged that rising cost of living justifies consideration of wage adjustments, she argued that policy makers must take a holistic, 360-degree view of the labour market. “Workers need to earn wages, but we also need businesses to grow to be able to sustain wage growth,” she said, framing long-term private sector expansion as a prerequisite for consistent improvement in worker compensation.

    Turning to the newly enacted paternity leave legislation, Mayers-Granville noted that the BEC was an active contributing member of the advisory committee that recommended introducing the new benefit. However, the association’s support was always conditional on a full assessment of the policy’s impact on the National Insurance and Social Security Service (NISSS), the public body that will now cover paternity leave costs. “Our major concern lay in NIS’s ability to manage that,” she stated. “Our major recommendation was that we should have an actuarial study on the impact before the implementation.”

    While Mayers-Granville confirmed that the requested actuarial assessment was ultimately completed, she pointed out that the 2023 rollout of the paternity leave law still did not include enough lead time for the BEC to educate member businesses on new compliance requirements and for employers to adjust their internal policies. Despite this gap in planning, the association has launched a targeted outreach and education campaign to help members align their operations with the new rules.

    On a positive note, Mayers-Granville acknowledged that the new paternity leave framework brings tangible benefits to many Barbadian employers. Before the legislation was passed, a large group of proactive businesses already offered paternity leave as a voluntary employee benefit, covering 100 percent of the cost out of internal budgets. Now that the benefit is administered and funded through the NISSS, these businesses see a direct reduction in their labour costs, a change that Mayers-Granville described as a clear plus.

    Even with this upside, the BEC continues to prioritize long-term stability of the national social security system, as the scheme takes on new social protection responsibilities alongside the country’s evolving social needs. “The ultimate goal remains ensuring the social security scheme is positioned [so] that it can manage the social protection items that we would want as our society develops,” Mayers-Granville said. The BEC will revisit the topic of labour reform this Wednesday, with a focused discussion on the critical connection between wage levels and productivity growth in the Barbadian economy.

  • CARPHA seeks to calm fears over cruise ship hantavirus outbreak

    CARPHA seeks to calm fears over cruise ship hantavirus outbreak

    As global attention and widespread online misinformation fuel growing public anxiety over a hantavirus outbreak tied to a European cruise ship, Caribbean public health leaders have moved quickly to reassure communities, emphasizing that the overall health risk to the region remains minimal despite the three confirmed deaths linked to the incident.

    During a formal media briefing on the Andes hantavirus strain at the center of the outbreak, Dr. Lisa Indar, Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), outlined that coordinated regional and international health bodies are maintaining continuous, close monitoring of the evolving situation. The outbreak traces back to the Dutch-flagged cruise vessel MV Hondius, which departed Argentina on April 1 carrying roughly 150 passengers and crew members hailing from at least 28 nations, including the Philippines, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. The first official alert of a cluster of unexplained respiratory illnesses was submitted on May 2 by the United Kingdom’s International Health Regulations focal point, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) and Dutch public health authorities to immediately implement strict, targeted infection control and monitoring protocols.

    As of the morning of May 11, WHO has documented a total of eight cases, combining both confirmed and suspected infections, with three fatalities recorded. A number of passengers and crew have already disembarked or been medically evacuated across multiple different jurisdictions, triggering large-scale international contact tracing operations to identify and monitor any potential exposed individuals.

    Indar took the briefing to clarify key facts about hantaviruses to counter misinformation spreading across social media. Most hantavirus strains are transmitted exclusively to humans through contact with infected rodents or their bodily excretions, including droppings, urine, and saliva. However, the Andes strain involved in this outbreak is a unique exception: it is the only documented hantavirus strain capable of limited person-to-person spread, a detail that has been distorted in many unvetted online posts.

    One prominent false rumor circulating across regional social platforms claimed that a passenger from the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis had contracted the virus during the voyage. Indar directly refuted this claim, confirming that the nation’s Chief Medical Officer had already issued an official statement confirming no suspected or confirmed cases of hantavirus linked to the outbreak have been identified in the country. “There has been a lot of misinformation that has been going out,” Indar told reporters, urging the public to prioritize verified, scientific information over unsubstantiated speculation. She emphasized that “based on the scientific evidence, the risk remains low” for the Caribbean, adding that CARPHA remains extremely diligent in its monitoring and would be the first to alert the regional public if the situation changes unexpectedly.

    Dr. Horace Cox, CARPHA’s Director of Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control, echoed Indar’s message, calling for measured vigilance rather than widespread panic. “Our message to the public is that even though the risk at this moment based on evidence available to us is low, we do encourage that they implement the public health measures and actions that we have included in our media releases,” Cox said. He noted that basic practices including consistent rodent control and routine hand hygiene are critical preventive measures not only for hantavirus, but also for other common rodent-borne illnesses such as leptospirosis. Amid what he described as a “deluge of information” online, Cox encouraged the public to seek updates exclusively from trusted sources, including CARPHA’s official website and established regional public health institutions.

    Globally, hantaviruses are a family of viruses primarily hosted by wild rodents. Human infection most often occurs when individuals inhale aerosolized particles contaminated with rodent excretions, which can lead to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a severe respiratory condition that can be fatal in some cases. While the Andes strain’s limited ability to spread between people makes this cruise-linked outbreak unusual, global health bodies have repeatedly reaffirmed that the overall international public health risk remains low at this time.

  • BEC at 70 inks ‘Barbados Declaration’

    BEC at 70 inks ‘Barbados Declaration’

    BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – On a landmark Monday gathering marking seven decades of operation, the Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC), a cornerstone of the island nation’s industrial relations framework, cemented its forward-looking vision with the signing of the game-changing Barbados Declaration. This formal, multi-stakeholder pledge commits the organisation to advancing collaborative social dialogue and resilient, sustainable economic growth amid the accelerating disruptions of global technological transformation.

    Founded in 1956, the BEC has grown from an emerging collective of forward-thinking business leaders into one of the three core pillars of Barbados’ renowned Social Partnership model. Monday’s platinum anniversary event brought together key stakeholders including Barbados’ Minister of Labour Colin Jordan, senior trade union leaders, and top private sector executives, blending a retrospective look at the organisation’s 70-year legacy of shaping industrial relations with the launch of a clear roadmap for the next chapter of Barbados’ economic development.

    At the heart of the anniversary celebrations was the official signing of the Barbados Declaration, a document that outlines five binding core commitments spanning employer advocacy, the evolving future of work, and the strengthening of collaborative ties between businesses and their workforces. BEC Executive Director Sheena Mayers-Granville emphasized that the declaration is far more than a symbolic ceremonial gesture, framing it instead as a concrete “statement of intent” to guide the organisation’s work in the decades ahead.

    Reflecting on the BEC’s origins, Mayers-Granville recalled that the organisation’s founding visionaries recognised 70 years ago that without a seat at the decision-making table, critical policies shaping Barbados’ economy would be crafted without input from the business community. “Seventy years later, we are still at the table,” Mayers-Granville affirmed. “Dialogue is not a weakness. Sitting across the table from a trade union or a minister of government and seeking a shared solution is not a concession—it is the only pathway to sustainable outcomes.”

    Addressing the long-standing tensions that often characterise labour-capital relations, Mayers-Granville offered a unifying perspective: “The interests of workers and the interests of employers are not opposites; they never were. A business that cannot grow cannot create jobs, and a workforce that is not supported cannot sustain growth. These truths are not competing; they are the same truth seen from different angles.”

    BEC President Gail-Ann King framed the 70-year milestone not as a simple celebration of longevity, but as a moment to reaffirm the organisation’s central role in upholding national economic and social stability. “Today is not simply a celebration of longevity. It is a moment of reflection, recommitment, and renewal,” King said. “For 70 years, the BEC has advocated for enterprise development, sound industrial relations, and productive dialogue in the national interest. We are particularly proud of our contribution to the social partnership model, which remains one of the defining features of Barbadian democracy.”

    Against a backdrop of global shifts toward digital transformation and the transition to climate-resilient economies, King noted that the BEC’s leadership has never been more critical. “The next decade will require adaptability, innovation, and collaboration,” she added. “Employers must continue investing in people while embracing digital transformation and strengthening productivity.”

    Minister of Labour Colin Jordan extended official congratulations to the BEC on its platinum anniversary, specifically praising the organisation for bringing much-needed structure and stability to Barbados’ industrial relations ecosystem. Looking back at the labour unrest of 1926 and 1937 that predated the BEC’s founding, Jordan observed that the organisation’s formation catalysed a fundamental shift away from unilateral employer decision-making toward intentional, inclusive engagement with all stakeholders.

    Jordan also used the high-profile platform to issue a public call for more Barbadian businesses to join the confederation, noting a clear gap in how BEC member organisations and non-members approach labour dispute resolution. “In my ministry, we recognise a difference between BEC members – those who allow the BEC to be their advocate – and some others,” Jordan said. “We see a difference in the approach to dealing with people. We need organisations like the BEC to bring some order, stability, and confidence.”

    As the BEC enters its eighth decade of operation, the Barbados Declaration has been positioned as the official benchmark against which the organisation expects its performance to be measured. Facing growing systemic challenges ranging from the integration of artificial intelligence into the workforce to shifting national demographic trends, the BEC has made clear it will remain an active, solution-focused participant in national policymaking rather than a passive observer.

    As Mayers-Granville put it: “70 years is a long time, but it’s not a reason to slow down. The BEC intends to be here for more than 70 years in the future.”

    The five core commitments laid out in the Barbados Declaration are: Advocacy to foster an environment where businesses can thrive rather than just survive; active leadership in shaping AI integration, digitalisation, and workforce skills frameworks for the future of work; protection and preservation of Barbados’ homegrown model of mutual respect and collective negotiation in industrial relations; contribution to national sustainability and universal decent work goals; and ongoing commitment to collaborative social dialogue across all sectors.

  • Barbados, T&T eye stronger cultural ties in education

    Barbados, T&T eye stronger cultural ties in education

    A groundbreaking cross-border partnership between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago centered on creative arts is emerging as a potential game-changer for reimagining education systems across the Caribbean, with top government officials and a celebrated soca icon aligning on a vision to weave regional identity, cultural heritage, and career-ready creative skills into early childhood and secondary education.

    The landmark conversation took place this Monday, when Minister of Education Transformation Chad Blackman welcomed award-winning Trinidadian soca performer Nailah Blackman — an artist with deep ancestral roots in Barbados — for a formal courtesy call at the minister’s Bridgetown office. For those unfamiliar with the star’s legacy, Nailah Blackman carries unmatched cultural pedigree in the Caribbean music space: she is the granddaughter of Ras Shorty I, the legendary innovator who pioneered the soca music genre, and the daughter of respected Trinidadian calypsonian Abbi Blackman, earning her the widespread title of “soca royalty” across the region. As of press time, no familial connection between Minister Blackman and the performer has been confirmed.

    During the discussion, Minister Blackman framed the collaboration as a natural extension of Barbados’ ongoing national education transformation agenda, arguing that the current reform push creates a unique opening to center Caribbean identity and cultural knowledge rather than sidelining it. “Your vision for advancing the arts, not just here in Trinidad but across Barbados, the entire Caribbean, and the global stage, lines up with so many of the goals we’re working toward — there are incredible synergies we can leverage,” he told the performer. The minister went on to emphasize that as Barbados overhauls its education framework, a core priority is decolonizing curricula by placing Caribbean narratives, culture, and perspectives at the heart of what students learn.

    Nailah Blackman echoed this commitment, stressing that foundational change to education must start in the earliest years of childhood to undo the lingering harm of colonial educational frameworks. “We really have to break free of the colonial mindset, because it’s something that has divided us and held our region back,” she explained. She added that grounding young people in local and regional arts and culture from their first years in school is the first step to building healthy, empowered regional identities: “That’s where change starts — molding young minds the right way, authentically, starting with deep roots in our own arts and culture.”

    Minister Blackman also outlined concrete policy plans to expand creative arts access across Barbadian primary and secondary schools, including the development of on-campus music production studios equipped for student use. “We’ve already made a formal commitment that a significant number of our schools will roll out dedicated creative arts curricula, but what makes this new is that we’re building actual studios where students can create their own music, produce original beats, and develop soundtracks from scratch,” he said. The end goal, he explained, is to arm students with marketable, practical creative skills before they graduate, preparing them to build successful careers in music and the broader creative economy across the Caribbean and around the world. “This is an incredibly exciting moment for education in our region,” he added.

  • When good intentions do harm: Why we must donate responsibly

    When good intentions do harm: Why we must donate responsibly

    For the Caribbean region, a frequent hotspot of climate-driven extreme weather, international generosity has long been a lifeline after catastrophic disasters. But well-meaning donations that arrive without coordination or alignment with local needs often turn into a secondary humanitarian crisis, crippling response efforts at a time when speed can mean the difference between life and death. In the aftermath of major disasters, unsolicited, unvetted donations routinely overwhelm already strained regional ports and storage facilities. Common problematic donations include heavy winter coats sent to tropical climates, expired food products, unsorted mixed boxes of goods that require hundreds of hours of labor to organize, and flimsy tarpaulins that cannot withstand heavy tropical rainstorms. Instead of supporting vulnerable communities, these inappropriate donations waste critical resources and divert emergency personnel away from addressing the most urgent life-saving needs.

    Data and operational experience from the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency (CDEMA) and its member states confirm that without clear, enforced donation management policies, massive volumes of unusable or ill-suited goods consume limited time, emergency personnel, and funding. This places enormous unnecessary strain on national logistics systems, and directly delays the delivery of essential supplies such as clean drinking water, nutrition, emergency shelter materials, and critical medical equipment. Compounding this problem, as much as 60 percent of these unsolicited donations never reach affected communities, and are ultimately discarded as waste. This creates additional environmental harm for small island nations already struggling with waste management infrastructure challenges. Beyond operational disruptions, these inefficiencies carry a steep human cost: when response systems slow down, at-risk populations are forced to wait longer for life-saving relief that they depend on for survival.

    The urgency of addressing this crisis has never been higher. Between 2020 and 2025 alone, more than 2.6 million people across 13 English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries were impacted by floods, intense tropical storms, and volcanic activity. These recurring disasters have caused widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure, displaced entire communities, and placed sustained, long-term pressure on already fragile social systems and national economies. This pattern underscores the region’s growing exposure to overlapping, complex climate hazards that are increasing in frequency and intensity as global temperatures rise.

    As the 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season approaches, and tropical storms continue to grow in strength due to climate change, the need for proactive preparedness has become more critical than ever. Lessons learned from recent disaster responses make clear that preparedness cannot stop at strengthening physical infrastructure and frontline response capacity. It must also include building robust public systems capable of managing and effectively routing incoming international support, so that generosity strengthens disaster response rather than derailing it.

    To address this longstanding challenge and raise global and regional public awareness, CDEMA and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), working in partnership with a range of regional and international humanitarian organizations, have rolled out a regional Donate Responsibly Campaign. The initiative aims to fundamentally transform how disaster assistance is delivered to affected Caribbean nations. Funded by EU Humanitarian Aid, the campaign is built on a simple but powerful core principle: all donations must be needs-based, centrally coordinated, and fully aligned with national disaster response systems.

    CDEMA has already laid critical foundational groundwork through its Comprehensive Relief and Logistics Management Programme, which supports member states to strengthen their national aid management capacity. This support includes developing tailored national logistics plans, establishing clear formal policies for unsolicited donations, conducting systematic needs assessments to identify priority items, strengthening end-to-end supply chains, and improving coordination through National Emergency Operations Centres. Digital tools such as real-time logistics tracking systems are already helping ensure that assistance is shaped by actual on-the-ground needs, not outdated assumptions about what affected communities require.

    Through the International Disaster Response Law (IDRL) framework, implemented in partnership with The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), CDEMA also supports countries to strengthen national regulatory frameworks that both facilitate and regulate incoming international aid. This work ensures all assistance is coordinated, accountable, and aligned with local needs. Key reforms include streamlining customs and border clearance processes for emergency goods, setting clear quality standards for incoming donations, and upholding international accountability requirements for humanitarian aid. Complementing these national-level reforms, regional coordination mechanisms co-led by IOM, CDEMA, and IFRC — including the Emergency Shelter and Non-Food Items Technical Working Group and the Relief and Logistics Thematic Working Group — help align all aid partners around shared common standards and response priorities.

    For individuals and organizations planning to donate ahead of or during future disasters, the campaign outlines three core guiding principles. First, cash donations are almost always the most effective option. Financial contributions allow local responders and national governments to purchase exactly what is needed, at the exact time and location it is required, while also supporting local economies rather than undercutting local producers. Second, coordination is non-negotiable. Before making any donation, potential givers should follow official guidance from national disaster management offices and CDEMA, and route donations through recognized, trusted humanitarian partners using official priority needs lists and established quality standards. Third, supporting and strengthening existing regional and national response systems is equally critical. All assistance should align with pre-existing national and regional response plans and logistics frameworks — donors should never bypass established systems to send unsolicited goods.

    The campaign emphasizes that responsible donating should support long-term recovery, not create new burdens for affected communities. Donations must address confirmed local needs, avoid creating additional waste and environmental harm, and prevent adding extra financial strain to small island states that are already on the frontlines of climate change. Context matters deeply: the Caribbean is a diverse region with unique cultural, climatic, and infrastructure contexts, so donations must be culturally appropriate, climate-relevant, and fit for their intended purpose. A donation that works well in one disaster context may be ineffective or even actively harmful in another.

    As the campaign notes, how people give is just as important as what they give. Before making a donation, all potential givers are encouraged to ask two simple questions: is this donation actually needed by the affected community, and is it being sent through coordinated official channels? Encouragingly, young people across the Caribbean are already leading calls for smarter, more sustainable approaches to disaster response, with a clear message: responsible giving is informed, coordinated, and environmentally sustainable.

    For Caribbean diaspora communities, private sector partners, national governments, and global supporters, the campaign’s message is clear: generosity can save lives, but only when it matches actual on-the-ground needs. The campaign urges all potential givers to support trusted, established organizations, follow official response channels, prioritize cash donations wherever possible, and ensure their support makes a meaningful, positive impact. The call to action is simple: Donate responsibly. Support smarter disaster response. Build stronger regional resilience. This article is a press release contributed by Kevon Campbell, Logistics Specialist at CDEMA, and Jan Willem Wegdam, Shelter Advisor at IOM.

  • Forum held to address establishment of joint investigation teams

    Forum held to address establishment of joint investigation teams

    Top legal and security officials from across the Caribbean have gathered in Bridgetown, Barbados, this week for a landmark two-day working forum focused on building a unified regional framework for joint cross-border investigations into financial crime and stolen asset recovery.

    Hosted at the Hilton Barbados Resort, the event forms the centerpiece of a broader collaborative initiative led by three key stakeholders: the Caribbean Regional Security System (RSS), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and global governance risk consultancy GovRisk International. The gathering brings together attorneys general, prosecutors, law enforcement commanders, and anti-crime specialists from across the region, alongside international partners focused on anti-money laundering, justice sector reform, and transnational organized crime disruption.

    At the core of the forum’s work is the design of a standardized regional model for Joint Investigation Teams (JITs) — coordinated cross-jurisdictional units that bring together investigators, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers from multiple territories to tackle linked criminal cases. Unlike traditional high-level policy conferences, organizers emphasized the event is intended to deliver actionable, practical outcomes rather than abstract discussion.

    “This is not a ceremonial event. It is not intended to be an abstract policy conversation,” said Dominic Le Moignan, Executive Director of GovRisk International, in opening remarks to delegates. “It’s a working legal forum with one practical focus: to help the Caribbean move closer to a workable, regionally owned model agreement for joint investigation teams.”

    Le Moignan acknowledged that building a cohesive cross-border system across dozens of independent Caribbean jurisdictions comes with steep challenges, including divergent national legal frameworks, conflicting rules of evidence, and mismatched operational command structures. “Crime works across borders, but there are significant challenges for our systems to work as freely,” he explained.

    The initiative has already undergone months of preparatory work, including regional consultations, targeted legal analysis, and multi-phase training for law enforcement and legal officials across the Caribbean. Earlier this year, more than 100 regional participants completed virtual training sessions, followed by in-person targeted workshops in Jamaica that brought together officials from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the Cayman Islands, and the Bahamas. Next week, a second in-person training session will be held for delegates from Barbados, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St Martin.

    With preparation complete, the forum marks the start of the initiative’s most critical phase: drafting a flexible model legal agreement that individual Caribbean nations can adopt or adapt to their own domestic legal systems. Le Moignan told delegates that the drafting process will be led by the region itself, with input from every participating jurisdiction to ensure the framework fits local needs. “We’re asking you to help craft and shape it, to test the ideas, challenge assumptions, identify risks early, and help define what a workable Caribbean model should look like,” he said.

    The draft framework is expected to address the full range of cross-border operational challenges, including protocols for secure evidence sharing, coordinated operational command, streamlined asset recovery procedures, and mechanisms to resolve conflicts between different national legal systems.

    RSS Executive Director Rear Admiral Errington Shurland, who formally opened the forum, noted that JITs would fill a long-standing gap in regional security by cutting through bureaucratic barriers to improve coordination and information sharing between jurisdictions targeted by connected transnational criminal networks.

    Barbados Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams, delivering the forum’s featured keynote address, emphasized that the initiative could not come at a more critical time for the Caribbean, as transnational organized criminal groups increasingly exploit border gaps to move illicit funds and avoid prosecution. “This initiative over the next two days resonates strongly with us as it captures two key principles for us; enhancing regional collaboration and coordination, and this particularly so among law enforcement agencies,” he said.

    Abrahams revealed that Barbados is currently moving forward with the establishment of its own dedicated national asset recovery unit, designed to strip criminal networks of the profits generated from illegal activity. “Crime, at the end of the day, is a business. Criminals are businessmen in the business of crime,” he noted.

    Francesco De Simone, Chief of Operations at the IDB’s Barbados office, said the regional development bank views targeted financial investigations and asset recovery as among the most powerful tools available to dismantle transnational criminal groups. “Financial crime, corruption, money laundering, and illicit asset flows can undermine economic resilience, public trust, and citizen security in our countries,” he said.

    De Simone added that the Caribbean’s limited national law enforcement and judicial resources make cross-border collaboration not just beneficial, but essential. “The resources are scarce. We understand that the demands are coming from different sides, and because of that, we think the joint investigative teams really have the opportunity and the potential to bring scale and hopefully reduce the burden on individual countries,” he said.

  • Abrahams calls for increased intelligence sharing across region

    Abrahams calls for increased intelligence sharing across region

    In a stark warning delivered at a landmark regional legal forum in Bridgetown, Barbados on Monday, Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams has exposed a critical vulnerability in the Caribbean’s fight against transnational organized crime: fragmented intelligence sharing that criminal networks are actively exploiting to operate across borders undetected. Addressing an audience of legal officials and security policymakers from across the region at the Hilton Barbados, where the gathering focused on advancing joint investigation teams for financial crime and asset recovery, Abrahams emphasized that Caribbean nations can no longer afford to work in isolated silos, while criminal organizations have already evolved into unified, region-wide enterprises.

    “The only people who do not see the Caribbean as one single operating space are us, the policymakers,” Abrahams told attendees. “The criminals certainly do.”

    To illustrate the dangerous gaps in current information-sharing protocols, Abrahams shared a shocking recent case from Barbados’ own law enforcement records. Authorities had intercepted a foreign national who had committed serious offenses in their home country before traveling to Barbados to continue criminal activity locally. After the individual was deported, they legally changed their name via a deed poll and re-entered Barbados – not once, but twice. It was only by chance that a third attempt was foiled, when an airport officer recognized the person’s face from a previous interaction.

    “If you have a known dangerous criminal operating in your country with the free movement that exists across the Caribbean, that person becomes a danger to all of us,” Abrahams said. The same loopholes that allowed this repeated breach are now being exploited by entire transnational gangs and criminal networks across the region, he added.

    Gang members can easily move between Caribbean islands on commercial flights, often avoiding detection because they have not yet been convicted or added to watchlists in their home countries, even when active investigations are already underway. Inadequate cross-border information sharing allows these individuals to commit violent and financial crimes in one jurisdiction, then return to their home base with clean records before local investigators can connect their activities to open cases elsewhere. Abrahams pointed out that this coordinated criminal mobility comes as Caribbean nations continue to grapple with rising gun violence, gang activity, and growing systemic risks from transnational organized criminal networks.

    Abrahams stressed that regional crime-fighting strategies must evolve to match the increasingly integrated structure of modern criminal groups. “While we operate in silos, the criminals are building multinational associations,” he said. “We cannot win any war against crime without good information shared in a timely manner, whether at the local, regional, or international level.”

    The Attorney General also acknowledged a persistent underlying barrier to cooperation: institutional and intergovernmental mistrust. He noted that in some cases, even different agencies within the same national department still withhold critical intelligence from one another, and that this cultural reluctance to share information must be overcome if the region is to get ahead of criminal networks.

    To address these barriers, Abrahams highlighted the value of formal collaborative frameworks such as joint investigation teams, which bring together law enforcement and legal authorities from multiple jurisdictions to create structured, standardized channels for intelligence sharing and coordinated case work. The two-day forum, convened by the Regional Security System (RSS), the Inter-American Development Bank and GovRisk International, is specifically focused on developing a unified Caribbean legal framework to support these cross-border teams targeting financial crime and stolen asset recovery.

    Abrahams closed by urging regional governments to move beyond exploratory policy discussions and commit to tangible, immediate action. “This can’t be just another talk shop,” he said. “The only path forward is to reach a point where we fully share relevant information where it counts. As children, we were all taught to share. As policymakers and adults responsible for public safety, we should live that lesson now.”

  • CARPHA launches Caribbean Mosquito Awareness Week

    CARPHA launches Caribbean Mosquito Awareness Week

    As mosquito-borne illnesses continue to push Caribbean public health systems to their breaking point, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has launched a urgent regional call to ramp up source reduction efforts, kicking off Caribbean Mosquito Awareness Week 2026 at an opening ceremony in Trinidad on Monday.

    Running from May 11 to 15 under the core theme “Stop Disease Transmission, Start Source Reduction”, this year’s awareness initiative arrives at a pivotal juncture: Caribbean nations are gearing up for the incoming rainy season, a period that reliably brings surging mosquito populations and elevated disease risk.

    CARPHA officials emphasize that the campaign is far more than a public education exercise—it is a foundational step to protect regional public health. Dr. Mark Sami, CARPHA’s Director of Corporate Services, explained that source reduction, the practice of eliminating standing water where mosquitoes breed, stands as one of the most powerful tools to prevent mosquito-borne illness. Even the smallest, most common household items can become dangerous breeding grounds, he noted: a discarded bottle, a used cup, an old tire, a flower pot drainage tray, a clogged gutter or an uncovered water barrel all hold enough standing water to spawn thousands of mosquitoes.

    These illnesses do not only harm individual health—they leave a widespread mark across every sector of Caribbean life. Dr. Sami pointed out that endemic diseases including dengue, chikungunya, Zika and malaria already strain overstretched health systems, disrupt regional economies, hurt the critical tourism sector, force school and workplace closures, and most critically, erode the well-being of Caribbean communities.

    Dr. Horace Cox, Head of Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control at CARPHA, reinforced that mosquito-borne diseases remain a substantial public health burden both globally and across the Caribbean. While dengue, Zika and chikungunya are all persistent major concerns, Dr. Roshan Parasram, Head of Vector Borne Diseases at CARPHA, flagged chikungunya as a particular pathogen to monitor closely, following large, disruptive outbreaks in Suriname and Cuba earlier this year. At the same time, he noted that dengue remains a constant endemic threat across the entire region.

    A key silver lining for regional action is that all three of these high-concern diseases are spread by the same mosquito vector, meaning targeted source reduction efforts can cut transmission of all three at once. Parasram stressed that as insecticide resistance becomes increasingly widespread across the Caribbean, source reduction has grown even more critical as a long-term, sustainable control strategy. Done correctly, it is the most environmentally friendly, cost-effective and accessible measure available to communities to keep mosquito populations in check, he added, repeating that “source reduction is the key” to successful vector control.

    Beyond grassroots source reduction education, CARPHA is leading a paradigm shift in regional disease preparedness: integrating climate and health data into new early warning systems that can predict dengue surges up to three months in advance. Cox explained that the agency’s technical team is developing new analytical tools that combine historical climate trends, current weather data and local disease surveillance data to forecast upcoming spikes in cases. If public health officials receive a reliable prediction one to three months before a surge is projected to hit, they gain a critical window to pre-deploy resources, run targeted prevention campaigns and intervene early to stop outbreaks from growing.

    This year’s awareness week includes hands-on education activities for nearly 300 primary and secondary school students across Trinidad, including guided tours of insectaries, live source reduction demonstrations, displays of mosquito treatment techniques, training on personal protective measures, and showcases of emerging vector control technologies—from surveillance drones to mobile tracking apps and geographic information systems that map breeding sites.

    To turn a one-week campaign into long-term regional change, CARPHA is expanding its school-focused outreach across the Caribbean through a regional Health Promotion Ambassadors Programme, which engages schools in selected member states. “This is a Caribbean-wide program,” Parasram explained. Participating schools complete structured training programs that measure student learning and help transform school grounds into spaces far less vulnerable to mosquito breeding.

    Dr. Matthew Desaine, Medical Officer at Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Education, highlighted the outsized role schools play in driving long-term public behavior change. “A child who learns why stagnant water must be removed from the environment can take that knowledge home to his parents,” Desaine said. “When our students are engaged in health education, environmental stewardship, and community action, they become the messengers of prevention.”

    Desaine added that the fight against mosquito-borne disease cannot be confined to a single awareness week, a single campaign or a single rainy season—it requires sustained, year-round action from communities and institutions across the region.

    CARPHA reports that the 2026 awareness week is funded through the Pandemic Fund Project, and aligns with the agency’s regional integrated vector management strategy, which aims to cut mosquito breeding habitats and strengthen long-term prevention capacity across the Caribbean. To keep community engagement high after the awareness week concludes, CARPHA is also launching a regional video competition that invites members of the public to share practical, accessible source reduction techniques they use in their own homes and communities.

  • West Terrace optimistic ahead of title defense

    West Terrace optimistic ahead of title defense

    As the 2024 National Sports Council BICO Primary School Football Competition prepares to kick off across Barbados this Tuesday, defending champions West Terrace Primary are stepping into their title defense campaign with measured confidence, poised to build on last year’s historic victory. The reigning champions will not open their first match until Wednesday, where they will face off against Sharon Primary at the Orange Hill playing field – the same pitch where they secured a narrow 1-0 win over Arthur Smith Primary to claim the championship trophy 12 months prior. This year, West Terrace Primary has been drawn into the competitive Dean Alleyne Zone, where they will go head-to-head with seven other participating schools: St Aban’s Primary, St Stephen’s Primary, St James Primary, St Matthews Primary, Good Shepherd Primary, Welches Primary, and their opening opponent Sharon Primary. In an exclusive interview with local outlet Barbados TODAY, long-serving team coach Roderick Harmon opened up about his squad’s preparations and outlook for the upcoming tournament, emphasizing his stance of cautious optimism for the campaign ahead. Harmon revealed that a core group of key players from last year’s title-winning roster have returned to the team this season, a strength he believes will give West Terrace a critical competitive edge over the other competing squads. “From the pre-tournament launch, it’s clear this is shaping up to be one of the most exciting tournaments we’ve seen in years, with lots of promising young new talent across all participating teams. We’re all ready and raring to get started, and we’re just looking forward to playing good football and enjoying the whole experience,” Harmon shared. “Thankfully, we’ve retained around six or seven players from last year’s championship side. These kids already know what it takes to compete at this level, they’ve stood on that winning stage, and that experience goes a long way. The entire squad is buzzing with excitement – winning a title only fuels that hunger to do it again. The returning boys are eager to get back on the pitch, and our new young recruits have already shown they can hold their own against tough competition.” The veteran coach, who has spent more than 20 years developing youth sports teams across multiple disciplines including athletics and cricket, leading multiple squads to championship titles, added that the team has not been weighed down by the pressure that comes with being defending champions. Instead, the program stays focused on its core long-term goals for player development. “After coaching at this level for more than two decades, I’ve learned to spot what championship-level potential looks like, and our goal every year is to help our players reach that standard,” Harmon explained. “We always make sure the kids understand that success doesn’t just come easily. You have to put in the hard work at every training session, keep a positive attitude, and if you do those things, success will follow with a bit of luck.” One notable rule and venue change for this year’s tournament is that the semifinal and final matches will be hosted at the Barbados Football Association’s state-of-the-art Wildey Technical Centre, a major upgrade from previous editions of the youth competition. This shift has earned widespread praise from coaches including Harmon, who says the new venue offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the young student-athletes. “I think this is such an important change for these kids. It gives them a chance to experience what it’s like to play at the highest level of the sport, on the best facilities that Barbados has to offer,” he noted. “Exposing young boys and girls who love football to top-tier infrastructure gets more kids excited to get involved in the sport. When they get to play on a pitch like that, it gives them something to work toward and encourages them to put forward their best performance every time they step on the field. It’s a really positive change for the whole competition.” This year’s edition of the tournament has drawn a record-level turnout, with more than 70 primary school teams from across the island registering to compete. 15 opening round matches are scheduled to kick off at venues across Barbados on Tuesday, the first official day of the national competition.

  • Smoke postpones Paradise, Brittons Hill clash

    Smoke postpones Paradise, Brittons Hill clash

    Two of the Barbados Football Association (BFA) Premier League’s top title contenders will have to hold their breath a little longer, as their hotly contested title-race showdown was called off mid-game, with a second match also postponed, all due to hazardous thick smoke from a nearby bush fire.

    The disruption hit the BFA Technical Centre playing grounds, where the clash between second-ranked Paradise and third-placed Brittons Hill United was halted at halftime, with the scoreboard still locked at 0-0. Organizers confirmed that this match, paired with the later scheduled fixture between defending champions Weymouth Wales and Kickstart, would be rescheduled at a later date, with no new time confirmed as of yet.

    With just three rounds of regular play left in the season, the results of both postponed matches will have massive ripple effects on the final title standings. Current table-toppers Weymouth Wales hold only a narrow one-point lead over second-place Paradise, while Brittons Hill United sit five points further back in third, meaning every point will be critical as the season reaches its climax.

    While the title contenders’ match was cut short, one full fixture did get completed on matchday, and it delivered all the drama fans could have hoped for: the UWI Blackbirds pulled off a gritty 2-1 comeback win over Bagatelle, courtesy of a stoppage-time match-winner from substitute Xavier Archer.

    UWI Blackbirds drew first blood in the 21st minute, when a left-sided corner from Teon Cadogan sent the penalty area into chaos, and Johan Goddard managed to poke the ball over the goal line to give his side an early lead – a rare advantage for the Blackbirds, who have struggled through a difficult season so far. The lead would not hold long, though; just 10 minutes later, sloppy defending from UWI let Bagatelle’s top scorer Torian Joseph burst through the defensive line, slotting the ball past goalkeeper K’den Hee Chung to level the score.

    The score stayed level through halftime, but the game’s tension ramped up in the 57th minute, when UWI captain Tidre Arthur was shown a red card by referee John Griffith for using an elbow in an aerial challenge with Bagatelle’s Tyrese King, leaving the Blackbirds down to 10 men.

    As the match ticked into stoppage time, a draw looked like the most likely outcome. But that changed when Rojae Collins delivered a pinpoint cross that found an unmarked Xavier Archer, who headed home the winning goal in the 95th minute to secure all three points for UWI. Minutes later, Bagatelle’s Azure Cumberbatch was also sent off after picking up a second yellow card, leaving both sides down to 10 players by the final whistle.

    After the hard-fought victory, Blackbirds player Zion Gollop reflected on his side’s performance, praising the team’s resilience through the match’s toughest moments. “I thought we showed good character to grind out the 2-1 win and we stayed together when the game got quite tough after going down a man in the second half,” Gollop said. “We can take positives from our work rate and resilience and taking the chances when we got them.”

    Looking ahead to the remaining matches of the season, Gollop also noted areas where the side can improve. “Probably the game management, keeping concentration for the full 90 minutes and being a bit cleaner in possession at times, but there’s still room to grow and there is definitely something to build on,” he added.