Caribbean Community

Caribbean Community Communauté Caribéenne  (French) Caribische Gemeenschap  (Dutch)
Flag
Anthem: Celebrating CARICOM
Dark green: Full CARICOM members. Lime green: Associate CARICOM members. Pistachio: Observers.
Seat of Secretariat		Georgetown, Guyana
Largest cities		Port-au-Prince
Official languages		English, French, Dutch
Type		Supranational organisation
Member states		15 full members Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Dominica Grenada Guyana Haiti Jamaica Montserrat St Kitts & Nevis Saint Lucia St Vincent & Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago 5 associates Anguilla Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Turks & Caicos Islands 8 observers Aruba Colombia Curaçao Dominican Republic Mexico Puerto Rico Sint Maarten Venezuela
Leaders
•	Secretary-General	Irwin LaRocque
•	Chairman	Dean Barrow
Establishment
•	Treaty of Chaguaramas	4 July 1973
•	Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas	2001
Area
•	Total	458,480 km2 177,020 sq mi
Population
•	2010 estimate	16,743,693
•	Density	34.8/km2 90/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2012 estimate
•	Total	$107.82 billion
•	Per capita	$6,439
GDP (nominal)		2010 estimate
•	Total	$64,771 billion (65)
•	Per capita	$8,116 (67)
HDI (2012)		0.719 high
Website CARICOM.org

Established in 1973, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is an organization of 15 Caribbean nations and dependencies. CARICOM's main purposes are to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, to ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and to coordinate foreign policy. Its major activities involve coordinating economic policies and development planning; devising and instituting special projects for the less-developed countries within its jurisdiction; operating as a regional single market for many of its members (Caricom Single Market); and handling regional trade disputes. The secretariat headquarters is based in Georgetown, Guyana.

Since the establishment of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) mainly by the English-speaking parts of the Caribbean region, CARICOM has become multilingual in practice with the addition of Dutch-speaking Suriname on 4 July 1995 and French- (and Haitian Kreyòl-) speaking Haiti on 2 July 2002. Furthermore, it was suggested that Spanish should also become a working language. In July 2012, CARICOM announced that they were considering making French and Dutch official languages.

In 2001, the heads of government signed a Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas thus clearing the way for the transformation of the idea for a Common Market aspect of CARICOM into instead a Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy. Part of the revised treaty among member states includes the establishment and implementation of the Caribbean Court of Justice. Since 2013 the CARICOM-bloc along with the Dominican Republic is tied to the European Commission via an Economic Partnership Agreements known as CARIFORUM signed in 2008. The treaty grants all members of the European Union and CARIFORUM equal rights in terms of trade and investment. Within the agreement under Article 234, the European Court of Justice also carries dispute resolution mechanisms between CARIFORUM and the European Union states.

Membership

See also: Member states of the Caribbean Community

Currently CARICOM has 15 full members, 5 associate members and 8 observers. All of the associate members are British overseas territories, and it is currently not established what the role of the associate members will be. The observers are states which engage in at least one of CARICOM's technical committees.

CARICOM Members

Status	Name	Join date	Notes
Full member	Antigua and Barbuda	4 July 1974
	Bahamas	4 July 1983	Not part of customs union
	Barbados	1 August 1973
	Belize	1 May 1974
	Dominica	1 May 1974
	Grenada	1 May 1974
	Guyana	1 August 1973
	Haiti	2 July 2002	Provisional membership on 4 July 1998
	Jamaica	1 August 1973
	Montserrat	1 May 1974	British overseas territory
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	26 July 1974	Joined as Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla
	Saint Lucia	1 May 1974
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1 May 1974
	Suriname	4 July 1995
	Trinidad and Tobago	1 August 1973	Founder of the Organization before handing over to Guyana
Associate	Anguilla	July 1999	British overseas territory
	Bermuda	2 July 2003	British overseas territory
	British Virgin Islands	July 1991	British overseas territory
	Cayman Islands	16 May 2002	British overseas territory
	Turks and Caicos Islands	July 1991	British overseas territory
Observer	Aruba		Country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
	Colombia
	Curaçao		Country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
	Dominican Republic
	Mexico
	Puerto Rico		Commonwealth of the USA
	Sint Maarten		Country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
	Venezuela

Organizational structure

Structures comprised by the overall Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Under Article 4 CARICOM breaks its 15 member states into two groups: Less Developed Countries (LDCs) and More Developed Countries (MDCs).

The countries of CARICOM which are designated as Less Developed Countries (LDCs) are:

• Antigua & Barbuda
• Belize
• Commonwealth of Dominica
• Grenada
• Republic of Haiti
• Montserrat
• Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis
• St. Lucia
• St. Vincent & the Grenadines

The countries of CARICOM which are designated as More Developed Countries (MDCs) are:

• Commonwealth of the Bahamas
• Barbados
• Co-operative Republic of Guyana
• Jamaica
• Republic of Suriname
• Republic of Trinidad & Tobago

Chairmanship

The post of Chairman (Head of CARICOM) is held in rotation by the regional Heads of State (for the republics) and Heads of Government (for the realms) of CARICOM's 15 member states.

Heads of government

CARICOM contains a quasi-Cabinet of the individual Heads of Government. These heads are given specific specialised portfolios of responsibility for overall regional development and integration.

Secretariat

• Secretariat of the Caribbean Community, The term of office of the Secretary-General is 5 years, which may be renewed. (Chief Administrative Organ)
• Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, the CARICOM Secretary General (Chief Executive) handles Foreign and Community Relations.
• Deputy Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, handles Human and Social Development.
• General Counsel of the Caribbean Community, handles Trade and Economic Integration.

The goal statement of the CARICOM Secretariat is:

To provide dynamic leadership and service, in partnership with Community institutions and Groups, toward the attainment of a viable, internationally competitive and sustainable Community, with improved quality of life for all.

Organs and bodies

Principal organs

Organ	Description
CARICOM Heads of Government	Consisting 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 consist of Ministers of Health from each member state

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 principal organs (the other being the Conference of the Heads of Government) and is supported by four other organs and three bodies.

Secondary organs

Secondary organ	Abbreviation
Council for Finance and Planning	COFAP
Council for Foreign and Community Relations	COFCOR
Council for Human and Social Development	COHSOD
Council for Trade and Economic Development	COTED

Bodies

Body	Description
Legal Affairs Committee	provides legal advice to the organs and bodies of the Community
Budget Committee	examines the draft budget and work programme of the Secretariat and submits recommendations to the Community Council.
Committee of the Central Bank Governors	provides recommendations to the COFAP on monetary and financial matters.

Institutions

The 23 designated institutions of CARICOM are as follows:

Institutions

Institution	Abbreviation
Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency	CDERA
Caribbean Meteorological Institute	CMI
Caribbean Meteorological Organisation	CMO
Caribbean Food Corporation	CFC
Caribbean Environment Health Institute	CEHI
Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute	CARDI
Caribbean Regional Centre for the Education and training of Animal Health and Veterinary Public Health Assistants	REPAHA
Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians	ACCP
Caribbean Centre for Development Administration	CARICAD
Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute	CFNI
CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security	IMPACS
Caribbean Examinations Council	CXC
CARICOM Single Market and Economy	CSME
Caribbean Court of Justice	CCJ
CARICOM Competition Commission	CCC
Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism	CRFM
Caribbean Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality	CROSQ
Caribbean Telecommunications Union	CTU
Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre	CCCCC
Caribbean Organisation of Tax Administrators	COTA
Council of Legal Education	CLE
Caribbean Aviation Safety and Securing Oversight System	CASSOS
Caribbean Regional Information and Translation Institute	CRITI

The Caribbean Court of Justice will act in its "original jurisdiction", as settlement unit for disputes on the functioning of the Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy (CSME). Additionally the states of CARICOM voted to supplement original jurisdiction with "appellate jurisdiction" under this the former colonies of the United Kingdom will have effectively replaced the Privy Council in London, United Kingdom with the CCJ.

The CCJ is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The majority of member states however, continue to utilize the Privy Council as their final appellate court and three member states do not use the CCJ for either its original jurisdiction or its appellate jurisdiction because they have either not signed the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (the Bahamas and Haiti) or are a current British colony (Montserrat).

Associate institutions

The five designated associate institutions of CARICOM are as follows:

Associate institutions

Associate institution	Abbreviation
Caribbean Development Bank	CDB
University of Guyana	UG
University of the West Indies	UWI
Caribbean Law Institute / Caribbean Law Institute Centre	CLI / CLIC
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States	OECS
West Indies Cricket Board	WICB

The CARICOM Standard and CARICOM Song

The Standard or Flag of the Caribbean Community was chosen in November 1983 at the Conference of Heads of Government Meeting in Port of Spain, Trinidad. There the Conference approved the design of the CARICOM flag. The original design was done by the firm of WINART Studies in Georgetown, Guyana but this was substantially modified at the Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in July 1983. The flag was first flown on 4 July 1984 in Nassau, Bahamas at the fifth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government.

The Flag features a blue background - the upper part being of a light blue representing the sky and the lower part of a dark blue representing the Caribbean Sea. The yellow circle in the centre of the Flag represents the sun on which is printed in black, the logo of the Caribbean Community - two interlocking Cs. The two Cs are in the form of broken links in a chain, symbolising both unity and the break with the colonial past. The narrow ring of green around the sun represents the vegetation of the Region.

As part of CARICOM's 40th anniversary celebrations, a competition to compose an official song or anthem for CARICOM was launched in April 2013. The goal of the competition was to facilitate the involvement of CARICOM countries in choosing a regionally and internationally recognized song that promoted unity and inspired CARICOM identity and pride. A regional panel of judges comprising independent experts in music was nominated by Member States and the CARICOM Secretariat to choose the CARICOM Song. The competition was conducted in three rounds, where sixty three entries were condensed to the final three, of which Celebrating CARICOM by Ms. Michele Henderson of Dominica, was chosen as the winner in March 2014. Ms. Henderson was awarded US$10,000 for winning the competition. The song was produced by Michele’s husband Roland Delsol Jr., and arranged by Earlson Matthew. It also features Michael Ferrol on drums and choral input from the St. Alphonsus Choir. It was re-produced for CARICOM by Carl Beaver Henderson of Trinidad and Tobago.

The second place entry titled My CARICOM came from Jamaican Adiel Thomas (who won US$5,000) and the third place song was titled One CARICOM by Carmella Lawrence from St. Kitts and Nevis (who won US$2,500). The other songs from the top-ten finalists (in no particular order) were One Region one Caribbean from Anguilla, One Caribbean Family from Jamaica, CARICOM’s Light from St. Vincent & the Grenadines, We Are CARICOM from Dominica, Together As one from Dominica, Blessed CARICOM from Jamaica and Together We Rise from Jamaica.

The first official performance of Celebrating CARICOM by Ms. Henderson, took place on Tuesday 1 July 2014 at the opening ceremony for the Thirty-Fifth Regional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in Antigua and Barbuda.

History

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM), originally the Caribbean Community and Common Market, was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas which came into effect on 1 August 1973. The first four signatories were Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago.

CARICOM superseded the 1965–1972 Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), which had been organised 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 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962.

A Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) was signed by the CARICOM Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community on 5 July 2001 at their Twenty-Second Meeting of the Conference in Nassau, The Bahamas. This cleared the way for the transformation of the idea for a Common Market aspect of CARICOM into instead a Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy. Part of the revised treaty among member states includes the establishment and implementation of the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Since 2013 the CARICOM-bloc along with the Dominican Republic is tied to the European Union via an Economic Partnership Agreements known as CARIFORUM signed in 2008. The treaty grants all members of the European Union and CARIFORUM equal rights in terms of trade and investment. Within the agreement under Article 234, the European Court of Justice also carries dispute resolution mechanisms between CARIFORUM and the European Union states.

Haiti invasion

In March 2004, tensions became strained between member-state Haiti and the rest of the Caribbean Community bloc. Democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide phoned some of the other 14 CARICOM heads of government and stated that he had been kidnapped by France and the United States and taken out of the country. CARICOM announced that no democratically elected government in CARICOM should have its leader deposed. The 14 other heads of government sought to have Aristide visit Jamaica and share his account of events with them. This move to have Jean-Bertrand Aristide flown from Africa to Jamaica infuriated the unelected interim Prime Minister, Gérard Latortue who then announced he would be taking steps to remove Haiti from CARICOM. The CARICOM heads then announced they would be holding a vote on whether to suspend the recognition of Latortue before he could vote on Haiti leaving CARICOM. This occurred and Haitian officials were suspended from taking part in the councils of CARICOM. This did not stop Latortue, who announced that he would continue a part of his plan to suspend Haiti from CARICOM. Haiti's membership had been effectively suspended from 29 February 2004 through early June 2006. Following the democratic election of Haitian President René Préval, he gave the opening address at the organisation's Council of Ministers meeting in July.

Statistics

See also: Trade bloc

Population and economic statistics of full and associate members

Member	Membership	Land area (km2)	Population	GDP (PPP) Millions USD	GDP Per Capita (PPP) USD (2014)	Human Development Index (2014)
Anguilla	associate	91	13,477	0.108	8,800
Antigua & Barbuda	full member	442.6	89,018	1,920	22,998	0.783
Bahamas	full member	10,010	316,182	8,800	25,075	0.790
Barbados	full member	430	287,733	4,500	16,365	0.785
Belize	full member	22,806	327,719	2,800	8,333	0.715
Bermuda	associate	54	67,837	5,085	-
British Virgin Islands	associate	151	24,000		-
Cayman Islands	associate	264	56,000	1,939	-
Dominica	full member	751	73,126	730	11,163	0.724
Grenada	full member	344	109,011	1,210	12,477	0.750
Guyana	full member	196,849	741,908	5,200	6,921	0.636
Haiti	full member	27,560	9,801,664	17,600	1,757	0.483
Jamaica	full member	10,831	2,889,187	23,600	8,610	0.719
Montserrat	full member	102	5,164	0.043	-
Saint Kitts and Nevis	full member	261	50,726	1,160	21,474	0.752
Saint Lucia	full member	606	162,178	1,880	11,644	0.729
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	full member	389	103,537	1,160	10,684	0.720
Suriname	full member	156,000	560,157	8,800	16,261	0.714
Trinidad & Tobago	full member	5,128	1,226,383	40,600	32,170	0.772
Turks and Caicos Islands	associate	948	36,600	0.845	-
Full members	members only	432,510	16,743,693	107,815	6,439	0.719

Thousands of Caricom nationals live within other member states of the Community. An estimated 30,000 Jamaicans legally reside in other CARICOM members states (mainly in the Bahamas (with 5,600), Antigua & Barbuda (with an estimated 12,000), Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago). There are also an estimated 150 Jamaicans living and working in Montserrat. On November 21, 2013, it was estimated that 16,958 Jamaicans could be residing illegally in Trinidad & Tobago, as according to the records of the Office of the Chief Immigration Officer, their entry certificates would have since expired. By October 2014, it was estimated that the number of Jamaicans residing illegally in Trinidad and Tobago was 19,000 along with an estimated 7,169 Barbadians and 25,884 Guyanese residing illegally. An estimated 8,000 Trinidadians and Tobagonians live in Jamaica while in Barbados there is a large diaspora population of Guyanese people, of which (in 2005) 5,032 were living there permanently as citizens, permanent residents, immigrants (with immigrant status) and Caricom skilled nationals; 3,200 were residing in Barbados temporarily under work permits (both short term and long term), as students, or with "reside and work" status. A further 2,000-3,000 Guyanese were estimated to be living illegally in Barbados at the time. Migration between Barbados and Guyana has deep roots, going back over 150 years, with the most intense period of Barbadian migration to then British Guiana occurring between 1863 and 1886 although as late as the 1920s and 1930s Barbadians were still leaving Barbados for British Guiana. Migration between Guyana and Suriname also goes back a number of years, with approximately 50,000 Guyanese having been estimated to have migrated to Suriname by 1986 over the years. In 1987 it was estimated that there were 30-40,000 Guyanese in Suriname. Many Guyanese left Suriname in the 1970s and 1980s either voluntarily or were expelled (over 5,000 alone were expelled in January 1985) as Suriname experienced instability following independence with coups and civil war. In 2013 it was estimated that 11,530 Guyanese had emigrated to Suriname and that 4,662 Surinamese had migrated to Guyana.

Relationship to other supranational Caribbean organisations

Supranational Caribbean Organisations

Association of Caribbean States

CARICOM was instrumental in the formation of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) on 24 July 1994. The original idea for what became the Association came from one of the recommendations of the West Indian Commission established in 1989 by the CARICOM Heads of State and Government. The Commission at the time advocated for both the deepening of the integration process (through the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy) and the widening of the integration process through the formation a separate regional organization that would encompass all states of the Caribbean Basin.

The CARICOM Heads of State and Government accepted the Commission's recommendations and opened dialogue with other Caribbean states, the Central American states and the Latin American nations of Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico which bordered the coast of the Caribbean, for consultation on the proposals of the West Indian Commission.

At the October 1993 Summit of Heads of State and Government of CARICOM and the Presidents of the then Group of Three (Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela), the formal decision was taken to create an association grouping all States of the Caribbean Basin and a work schedule for its formation was adopted. The aim was to create the association in less than a year, an objective which was achieved with the formal creation of the ACS.

Community of Latin American and Caribbean States

CARICOM was also involved in the formation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) on 3 December 2010. The idea for CELAC originated at the Rio Group–Caribbean Community Unity Summit on 23 February 2010 in Mexico.

OHADAC Project

In May 2016, Caricom's court of original jurisdiction, the CCJ, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the ACP Legal Association based in Guadeloupe recognizing and supporting the goals of implementing a harmonized business law framework in the Caribbean through ACP Leagal Association's OHADAC Project.

OHADAC is the acronym for the French "Organisation pour l'Harmonisation du Droit des Affaires en les Caraïbes", which translates into English as "Organisation for the Harmonization of Business Law in the Caribbean". The OHADAC Project takes inspiration from a similar organisation in Africa and aims to enhance economic integration across the entire Caribbean and facilitate increased trade and international investment through unified laws and alternative dispute resolution methods.

See also

• Projects of the Caribbean Community
• SIDS
• CSME
• Petrocaribe
• Association of Caribbean States
• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
• North American Union (NAU)
• Union of South American Nations (UNASUR)
• Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
• Commonwealth of Nations
• African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States
• CARIFORUM
• OHADAC (Organisation for the Harmonization of Business Law in the Caribbean)
• Caribbean Financial Action Task Force
• Caribbean Initiative
• Languages of the Caribbean
• Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI)
• Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network
• List of regional organizations by population

External links

• Official website
• Official Blog CARICOM Today
• CARICOM Representation Office in Haiti (CROH)
• CARICOM Statistics: Statistical information compiled through the CARICOM Secretariat
• Radio CARICOM: the voice of the Caribbean Community (Press Release)
• Caricom Law: Website and online database of the CARICOM Legislative Drafting Facility (CLDF)
• Caricom Trade Support Programme: Government of Trinidad and Tobago
• CARICOM Trade Support Programme Loan
• Rapid Exchange System for Dangerous Non-food Consumer Goods (CARREX): Front end for Consumer Product Incident Reporting
• PANCAP: Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS
• CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ)
• CARICOM (Revised Treaty) PDF (573 KB)
• EU Style Structure Evident in CARICOM
• Haiti suspends ties with CARICOM
• Jamaica Gleaner News - Haiti could return to CARICOM
• Haiti re-admitted?
• Caricom and Haiti: The raising of the Caribbean's 'Iron Curtain'
• How viable is a single Caribbean currency? Part II
• How viable is a single Caribbean currency? Part III
• The Dominican Republic in Caricom? Yes, we can
• Bureau recommends re-examination of Dominican Republic's proposed membership in CARICOM
• Guyana Journal (2007-07): Advancing Integration Between Caricom and Central America
• EDITORIAL: We may just have to dump CARICOM, July 4, 2010, Jamaica Gleaner
  • Commentary: Gleaner newspaper suggests disbanding CARICOM, July 5, 2010, Caribbean Net News
• Does Caricom have a future? , 6 July 2010, BBC.co.uk
• That elusive governance structure, 7 July 2010, BBC.co.uk