Caribbean Community
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The Caribbean Community and Common Market or CARICOM was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas <ref>Treaty of Chaguaramas</ref> which came into effect on August 1, 1973. The first four signatories were Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
CARICOM replaced the 1965–1972 Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), which had been organized to provide a continued economic linkage between the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean following the dissolution of the West Indies Federation which lasted from January 3, 1958 to May 31, 1962.
A Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas <ref> Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas</ref> establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) was signed by the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community on July 5 2001 at their Twenty-Second Meeting of the Conference in Nassau, The Bahamas.
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Overview
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has become unofficially multilingual in practice with the addition of Dutch-speaking Suriname on July 4 1995 and Haiti, where French and Haitian Creole are spoken, on July 2 2002.
In 2001, the heads of government signed a Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas thus clearing the way for the transformation of the Common Market aspect of CARICOM. Part of the revised treaty includes the establishment and implementation of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Membership
Currently CARICOM has 15 full members:
- Template:ATG (4 July 1974)
- Template:BHS (4 July 1983)
- Template:BAR (1 August 1973)
- Template:BLZ (1 May 1974)
- Template:DMA (1 May 1974)
- Template:GRD (1 May 1974)
- Template:GUY (1 August 1973)
- Template:HAI (provisional membership on 4 July 1998, full membership on 2 July 2002)
- Template:JAM (1 August 1973)
- Template:MSR (a territory of the United Kingdom) (1 May 1974)
- Template:SKN (26 July 1974 as St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla)
- Template:LCA (1 May 1974)
- Template:VIN (1 May 1974)
- Template:SUR (4 July 1995)
- Template:TRI (1 August 1973)
There are five associate members:
- Template:VGB (July 1991)
- Template:TCA (July 1991)
- Template:AIA (July 1999)
- Template:CAY (16 May 2002)
- Template:BER (2 July 2003)
There are seven observers:
Since March 2004, Haiti's participation in CARICOM was suspended by its interim Prime Minister, Gerard Latortue in response the visit of Jean-Bertrand Aristide (the ousted President) to Jamaica[1]. Haiti's membership had been effectively suspended though since February 29, 2004 as CARICOM refused to recognize the new interim government. Haiti will likely be re-admitted to CARICOM when the winner of 2006 elections forms a new government [2],[3].
In July 1999, Anguilla once again became involved with CARICOM when it gained associate membership. Prior to this, Anguilla had briefly been a part of CARICOM (1974-1980) as a constituent of the full member state of Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla.
In 2005 the Foreign Minister of the Dominican Republic had proposed seeking to obtain full membership status in CARICOM for his country; however, due to the sheer size of the Dominican Republic's economy and population size in comparison with the current CARICOM states, and coupled with the Dominican Republic's checkered history of foreign policy solidarity with the CARICOM states it is unclear whether the CARICOM states will unanimously vote to admit the Dominican Republic as a full member into the organization.It has been proposed that CARICOM may deepen ties with the Dominican Republic through the auspice of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) instead, which is an organisation that stops just short of the proposed political integration which will underpin CARICOM at a later date.
See also: Trade bloc
Structure
After the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, CARICOM reorganised itself into a state like Government structure made up of the following branches:
The Executive
Comprising of a rotating prime ministerial Chairmanship of CARICOM (Head of CARICOM), the CARICOM Secretary General (Chief Executive) and the CARICOM Headquarters secretariat (Chief Administrative Organ). There is also a quasi Cabinet of individual Heads of Government who are given specific responsibility or portfalios for overall regional development and integration. <ref>Regoinal Portfolios of CARICOM Heads of Government</ref>
The Legislative
The Community Council: The Council consists of Ministers responsible for Community Affairs and any other Minister designated by the Member States in their absolute discretion. It is one of the the principal organs (the other being the Conference of the Heads of Government) and is supported by four other organs and three bodies.
Supporting Organs
- The Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP)
- The Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED)
- The Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR)
- The Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD)
Supporting Bodies
- The Legal Affairs Committee: provides legal advice to the organs and bodies of the Community (related: CARICOMLaw)
- The Budget Committee: examines the draft budget and work programme of the Secretariat and submits recommendations to the Community Council; and,
- The Committee of Central Bank Governors: provides recommendations to the COFAP on monetary and financial matters
The Judiciary
The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will act as the original jurisdiction for settlement of disputes on the functioning of the Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy (CSME), as well as serving as an appellate court of last resort for member states which have severed their country's ties with the Privy Council in London, United Kingdom. The CCJ is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Caribbean Community organs and bodies
Structures that comprise the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
- CARICOM Heads of Government - Comprising of the various heads of Government from each member state
- Standing Committee of Ministers - Ministerial responsibilities for specific areas,for example the Standing Committee of Ministers responsible for Health will comprise of Ministers of Health from each member state
Secretariat
The Secretariat is located in Georgetown, Guyana.
| | Image:Caricom-Flag.png |
|---|---|
| Antigua and Barbuda | Bahamas¹ | Barbados | Belize | Dominica | Grenada | Guyana | Haiti² | Jamaica | Montserrat | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Saint Lucia | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Suriname | Trinidad and Tobago | |
| Associate members: Anguilla | Bermuda | Cayman Islands | British Virgin Islands | Turks and Caicos Islands | |
| Observer status: Aruba | Colombia | Dominican Republic | Mexico | Netherlands Antilles | Puerto Rico | Venezuela | |
| ¹ member of the community but not the CARICOM (Caribbean) Single Market and Economy. ² membership temporarly suspended. | |