Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

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The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance between countries and dependencies in the Eastern Caribbean. It also performs the role of spreading responsibility and liability in the event of natural disaster, such as a hurricane.

The main organ of the OECS, the Secretariat, is based in the capital city of Saint Lucia, Castries.

1 History
2 OECS Membership
3 Organs of the OECS
4 Central Bank
5 Foreign Missions
6 See also
7 External links

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History

The OECS was created on 18 June, 1981, with the Treaty of Basseterre, which was named after the city of the same name, the capital city of St. Kitts and Nevis. The OECS is the successor of the Leewards Islands' political organisation known as the West Indies Associated States (WIAS).

One prominent aspect of the modern day OECS economic bloc has been the accelerated pace of trans-national integration among its member states.

All of the members-states of the OECS are either: Full or Associate members of the Caribbean Community and are among the next batch of countries scheduled to join the Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy (CSME).

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OECS Membership

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The OECS currently has nine members, spread across the Eastern Caribbean. Together, they form a near-continuous archipelago across the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands.

The two most geographically isolated members, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, have only associate membership of the organisation. As a result, diplomatic missions of the OECS do not represent these two states. For the purposes of further discussing the membership, they are treated as equals of the full members.

Six of the members were formerly colonies of the United Kingdom. The other three, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, and Montserrat remain overseas territories of the UK. Eight of the nine members consider Queen Elizabeth II to be sovereign (Dominica is a republic). There is no requirement for the members to have been British colonies, however the close historical, cultural and economic relationship fostered by them having all been British colonies is as much a factor in the membership of the OECS as their geographical proximity. As well, the Queen's likeness appears on the East Caribbean dollar's coins and banknotes.

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Organs of the OECS

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Secretariat

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Director General

The authority within the OECS Secretariat is lead by the Director General. The current Director General of the OECS is Dr. Len Ishmael.

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Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court

The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, which was created during the era of WISA today handles the judicial matters in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. When a trial surpasses the stage of High Court in an OECS member state, it can then be passed on to the ECSC at the level of Supreme court. Cases appealed from the stage of ECSC Supreme Court will then be referred to the jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Prior to the establishment of the CCJ in 2003, court cases appealed at the level of the ECSC's Supreme court would continue to the Privy Council, in the United Kingdom. [1]

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Central Bank

The majority of the OECS members-states are participants of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) monetary authority. The regional central bank oversees financial and banking integrity for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States economic bloc of states. Part of the bank's oversight lends to maintaining the financial integrity of the Eastern Caribbean dollar (EC$). Of all OECS member-states, only the British Virgin Islands, do not use the Eastern Caribbean dollar as their de facto native currency.

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