CARICOM nationals are unaware of their own rights under CSME

Mar 09, 2015 News

– Technical Coordinator

Although it’s been in existence for 42 years, most of the people of the Caribbean community are unaware of what CARICOM stands for.
This observation was made by Melbour Phillip, the CARICOM Secretariat’s Technical Coordinator, at last week’s CARICOM Trade and Competitiveness Project (CTCP) Component 300 informative session.
Phillip, in an address to members of the Immigration Department of the Guyana Police Force, recalled an incident where a St. Lucian teen was asked to speak on CARICOM, but the high school student explained that she had no idea what CARICOM was.
She decided to dive into what she knew, there beginning an in-depth discussion on the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and all that it entails.
The reason for this lack of awareness about CARICOM might be CARICOM’s own fault.
“Everybody needs to know about CARICOM and CSME…we had training in several parts of the Caribbean and found that Immigration Officers were not even aware that Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica were member states… Perhaps in was our fault that they are not aware.”
Phillip plunged into background information on the Caribbean integration movement, mentioning the signing of the 1973 Original Treaty of Chaguaramas in Trinidad, which established the Caribbean Community, and the free movement of goods.
He went on to discuss the details of the 1989 Grand Anse Declaration in Grenada, which served the overall purpose of deepening the integration process, by widening the borders of the Caribbean community to include Haiti and Suriname.
It is this very declaration, which facilitated the birth of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), which was introduced in order to promote better standards of living throughout the region.
In 2001, the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC), including provisions for CSME, was signed. Phillip explained that the RTC actually came into being much later in 2006. He related, “for the few years there, you may have noticed a gap. We were getting ready for the impact it would have.”
The new system that was created under the RTC saw the entire community being transformed into one single market and economy, in which factors moved freely as a basis for internationally competitive production of goods and provision of services.
The renewed construct of the RTC also introduced the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), and a profusion of new rights including the principle of national treatment (where each CARICOM national is treated as if he were a national in very Member State), free movement of goods, the right to establishment, free movement of skilled nationals, free movement of capital, and free movement of services.
Phillip alluded that Article 45 of the RTC remains a fundamental aspect of CARICOM and CSME, since it makes provision for free movement of nationals within the community and free movement to undertake economic development.
The CARICOM Technical Coordinator emphasised, “Without free movement, all of these rights are meaningless.”
Moreover, the opportunities afforded to nationals of Member States would appear endless. Phillip advertised the fact that one can acquire a skilled national certificate, which would allow that national to seek employment or “set up shop” within the jurisdiction of another Member State.
Apart from that, nationals are guaranteed the right of automatic entry to other Member States. They are to travel hassle free when entering and leaving other CARICOM jurisdictions.
However, this freedom of movement and promised hassle free travel does not allow a CARICOM national to stay in another Member State for an indefinite period of time. The general rule is that CARICOM nationals be allowed a maximum stay of six months within another CARICOM jurisdiction, with exceptions being made for special circumstances.
Today, there are 15 CARICOM Member States: Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad & Tobago. However, only 12 of them are a part of CSME since Haiti and Montserrat do not enjoy the privilege of free movement of its nationals, and The Bahamas does not engage in free movement of goods.

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CARICOM nationals are unaware of their own rights under CSME

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