Background to the CARICOM System

• 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: 3-29

Background to the CARICOM System 3

1

BACKGROUND TO THE CARICOM SYSTEM

BACKGROUND

The ‘CARICOM System’ is the term used to characterise the inter-governmental

organisations established by the political directorate of the Commonwealth Caribbean

countries and which maintain functional relationships with the Caribbean Community

designed to, or having the effect of, facilitating the achievement of the objectives of the

Caribbean Community. Although the economic objectives of the Caribbean Community

and Common Market established by the original Treaty of Chaguaramas 1973, and the

economic objectives of the Caribbean Community, including the CARICOM Single

Market and Economy (CSME) established by the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas 2001,

are different in important details, the broad objectives of both the founding and successor

organisation are essentially the same: economic integration, co-ordination of foreign

policies and functional co-operation.1

The basic constituent instruments set out in this volume correspond to these three

policy areas. Although a few of the institutions predate the establishment of the

Caribbean Community, for example, the University of the West Indies and the Council

of Legal Education, their functions significantly complement the objectives of the

Caribbean Community.

A people without a history is incapable of identifying and evaluating their present

location in the vicissitudes of global development and vulnerable to mistakes in charting

a course for the future. The Caribbean Community is the measured institutional response

to a variety of historical and political developments. Much of that history has not been

dispassionately recorded and could be considered at variance with the views of

indigenous historians.

The collapse of the West Indian Federation in 1962 did not lead to the abortion of

regional initiatives in the area of functional co-operation. Functional co-operation among

the Commonwealth Caribbean territories not only continued after 1962, but intensified

in one or two areas, for example, in education. Thus, there was never any doubt that the

University of the West Indies would continue and that its courses would be enlarged to

accommodate the demands of an expanding post-secondary school population. Similarly,

attempts were made to produce lawyers of Caribbean vintage and to establish an

examination system relevant for the Region. These efforts eventuated in the

establishment of the Council of Legal Education and the creation of the Caribbean

4 THE CARICOM SYSTEM

Examinations Council. Coincident with initiatives in the area of functional co-operation

were efforts to salvage the West Indies Shipping Corporation and to see how the fragile

economies of Barbados and the OECS could survive in the post-1962 era. The

independence of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in 1962 not only underscored the

vulnerability of the dependent Commonwealth Caribbean territories but also galvanised

efforts by the United Kingdom and Canada to establish a financial institution to mobilise

external capital for this group of political entities. These efforts bore fruit towards the

end of the decade. The only discordant note around this time emanated from British

Guiana which distanced itself, ideologically, from the Commonwealth Caribbean and

tried to emphasise its distinctive identity by setting up the University of Guyana.

Not unlike similar inter-governmental organisations in other parts of the globe,

the organisations and institutions comprising the CARICOM System either constituted

the measured response to regional or international developments or were established to

anticipate and influence such developments. However, irrespective of the original

motivation for the establishment of the organisations and institutions of the CARICOM

System, it is possible to discern in their structure and activities a measure of functional

coherence geared towards the consolidation and exploitation of synergies for the

achievement of collective goals. The University of the West Indies and the CARICOM

Secretariat recently concluded a co-operation agreement in order to pool resources for

the pursuit and achievement of regional goals.

Some of the CARICOM institutions have stood the test of time, surpassing the

most vaunting predictions of their ardent proponents. Others have under-performed

and become defunct. On balance, however, the successes seemed to have exceeded the

failures.2

Central to the family of organisations and institutions of the CARICOM System is

the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy

(CSME) established by the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, 2001. At present, the

Caribbean Community is in an advanced stage of transition. Of the nine Protocols

which have been elaborated, only four have been signed and provisionally applied.3

The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, which integrates and consolidates the nine

Protocols, has been signed by eight Heads of Government and has not been provisionally

applied. However, it is envisaged that this instrument will be signed and provisionally

applied as suggested by the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on the CSME which is

under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of Barbados. The CARICOM Secretariat

has prepared a Protocol on Provisional Application of the Revised Treaty as well as a

Protocol on the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas providing for the succession of the

Caribbean Community and Common Market by the Caribbean Community including

the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. Both Protocols have been signed by the

Heads of Government.

In order to examine the CARICOM System in proper perspective, it is proposed to

describe briefly the main features of the original Caribbean Community and its successor

organisation together with some of the major regional and international developments

which impacted negatively or positively on their institutional configuration transforming

the one from an essentially protectionist inward-looking organisation to an open,

liberalised institution motivated by internationally competitive production of goods and

services. This will be followed by a brief description of the background to some other