The implementation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) will bring, among other things, the free movement of qualified labour, which political leaders hope will give the benefits of an economic bloc to the micro-economies of the region. There is, however, the question of whether the current status quo of unequal rights and the unequal distribution of benefits for various vulnerable groups will continue. This is particularly relevant as the epidemics of HIV and AIDS deepen in the region. This commentary argues for a critical analysis of the trends now emerging in the Caribbean Single Market that may reinforce the structural vulnerabilities that act as the drivers of these epidemics.
DFID, WHO/PAHO, GFATM, UNAIDS Secretariat and the World Bank , HIV/ AIDS in the Caribbean Region: a multi-organization review — final report (November 2005).
2.
CAREC/PAHO Special Programme on Sexually Transmitted Infections, The Caribbean HIV/AIDS Epidemic and the Situation in Member Countries of the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) (November 2006).
3.
Unaids/Who, AIDS Epidemic Update: December 2006 (December 2006).
4.
See Robert Carr and R. Anthony Lewis, `Caribbean: birth of a regional network responding to HIV/AIDS and vulnerability', HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Review (Vol. 10, no. 1, 2005).
5.
For a critique of IMF development policy, see Joseph E. Stiglitz, Globalization and its Discontents (New York, W.W. Norton, 2003).
6.
The Bahamas will not participate in the CSME.
7.
UNAIDS/WHO, op. cit.
8.
ILO/UNAIDS , The Workplace as an Entry Point to Strengthen National Responses to HIV and AIDS (2006), p. 2.
