Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians

• Author: Duke Pollard
• Profession: Sitting senior judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the highest appellate municipal court of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
• Pages: 227-233

Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians 227

11

ASSEMBLY OF CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY

PARLIAMENTARIANS

When the Agreement Establishing the Assembly of Caribbean Community

Parliamentarians was first opened for signature on February 19, 1992, only two Member

States of the Community signed the constituent instrument. Prime Minister Sandiford

of Barbados, who was the moving light behind the institution, was in danger of being

the only signatory on that fateful day, until Mr. Hoyte of Guyana, after a disturbing and

embarrassing hiatus of several minutes, rose from his seat to append his signature to

the Agreement. This event, more than any other, demonstrates the diffidence of Member

States to this institution in its early years.

Perceptions about the role and desirability of establishing the Assembly were largely

informed by the federal experiment in political integration which terminated in 1962,

and by the relevant provisions of the constituent instrument of this institution. As

mentioned in the introduction to this work, the collapse of the Federation had a negative

effect on movements toward integration for a very long time. So much so that the

original Treaty of Chaguaramas was constrained to establish a bifurcated Caribbean

Community and Common Market as separate juridical entities. Consequently, there

was little or no support for the initiative of the Barbadian Prime Minister and the Prime

Minister of Dominica is on record as refusing to finance the participation of members

of the opposition in any regional endeavour.

The Assembly consists of representatives of Member States and Associate Members

elected by their Parliaments or appointed in such manner from their membership as the

Parliaments decide. It is understood that a Parliamentary delegation should consist of

representatives of both government and opposition reflecting their representation in the

Parliament as far as practicable, subject to a ceiling of four representatives each from

Member States and two each from Associate Members. Representatives are entitled to

have alternates who may attend meetings of the Assembly and to vote and speak in the

Assembly when the representatives are absent.

The objects of the Assembly are to involve the people of the Community, through

their representatives, in the process of consolidating and strengthening the Community;

to provide opportunities for involvement in the issues of the integration process by

members of Parliament in each Member State and Associate Member, in addition to

those who now participate; to provide a forum for people of the Community to make

their views known through their representatives; to provide more frequent contact in

the monitoring of the policies of the Community; to provide enhanced opportunities for