The Caribbean Community, Caricom, made uncharacteristic progress towards its goal of a common market at the Caricom summit in Jamaica earlier this month. Unfortunately, this was overshadowed by the debate over a united response to the US decision to cut military aid to six member countries that ratified the treaty on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and refused to exempt Americans from being tried before the court.
Autonomous body. Caricom heads of state have long talked about the creation of a Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) but, despite good intentions, it has remained very much on the drawing board. Significantly, they agreed unanimously this time around to cede economic decision making to an independent authority: a new commission, modelled on the European Commission, will be set up to oversee the CSME. This is a rare example of Caricom heads being willing to hand over any authority.
The resulting 'Rose Hall Declaration' issued at the end of the summit also encouraged member states seeking to pursue political union. The very next day four heads of state, Prime Ministers Patrick Manning, of Trinidad & Tobago, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, from St Vincent and the Grenadines, Owen Arthur, of Barbados, and Keith Mitchell, from Grenada, met in Barbados to discuss the issue.
Given the tortuous progress on the CSME, the idea of deepening political integration in the region seems somewhat premature. An editorial in the Barbados Nation put it succinctly: 'Detractors would immediately wonder whether a region, beset by myriad economic and social problems and an intractable inability to implement agreements on issues involving simple things like a fishing agreement (Trinidad and Barbados), or the more difficult, but equally important, issue of a Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), should embark on a political alliance within a subregion at this time.'
The idea of political union is not a new one. Nine years ago, a former Prime Minister of Barbados, Erskine Sandiford, offered specific proposals for a confederal structure involving Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Barbados. Only a few years ago Barbados announced its intention to form an alliance with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Both initiatives were dead in the water.
Other agreements at the Summit: the fast-track creation of the new Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to replace the current final court of appeal, the Privy Council in London; the posting of a representative to Port-au-Prince with a six-month mandate to attempt to break the political impasse in Haiti and pave the way for legislative elections later this year.
US pressure. Caricom managed to present an ostensibly united front on the US decision to cut military aid to the six member states of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad & Tobago for failing to toe its line on the ICC.
At the end of the summit, regional leaders issued a statement condemning the US decision and agreeing that the nine of the 15-member community that had yet to ratify the ICC, would do so as soon as possible.
The verbal unanimity, however, provides a get-out clause for those members of Caricom who are reluctant to jeopardise their relationship with the US and the economic assistance they receive for development projects. '[Caricom] Heads also recognised that some member states may wish to negotiate bilateral "non-surrender" agreements with the US,' the statement says.
These so-called Article 98 exemptions are being pushed by the US. They would prevent any US citizen from facing war crime charges.
The Bahamas is likely to be one such country. Prime Minister Perry Christie has made it clear that the Bahamas will not do anything to harm their relationship with the US: 'We have not yet ratified [the ICC agreement]... Because of our friendly relations with the US, because of our proximity, we shall endeavour to ensure that our relations are not impaired by the treaty of Rome [where the ICC treaty was formulated] or any other treaty,' he said.
Nevis to go alone. Given the general consensus towards greater integration in the Caribbean, the fact that events in St Kitts and Nevis are heading in the opposite direction seems somewhat incongruous. The Nevis Island Assembly has approved a resolution paving the way for a public debate on the island's bid for political independence.
Premier Vance Amory said that Nevis, the smaller of the two islands that currently make up the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, was determined to pursue independence because it was not benefiting from the federation: 'What we are doing and seeking to do is in compliance with the constitution of this country,' Amory said. The government contends that it could survive well enough off the back of its own offshore banking sector and internet gambling services.
It is not the first time that Nevis has sought independence. An acrimonious referendum in 1998 resulted in the ruling party falling five percentage points shy of the 67% of votes needed to secede.
The leader of the opposition Nevis Reformation Party, Joseph Parry, conditioned his support for the resolution on independence upon the public being adequately educated on all the options available to them, including Federation with St. Kitts.
Nevis has a population of just over 10,200 people; St Kitts about 29,000. Caricom has made no formal comment on the possibility of Nevis seceding and subsequently applying to become the sixteenth member state of the Community. Anguilla broke away from the federation in 1967 and has remained a colony of Britain ever since.
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