The Caribbean

Introduction

According to the United Nations, the Caribbean is a sub-region in the Americas and includes the following 13 UN member states: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. Of these 13 countries, Cuba and the Dominican Republic do not participate in the two regional organisations with free movement regimes – the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). However, Belize in Central America and Guyana and Suriname in South America are part of the CARICOM free movement regime and thus considered here.

The Caribbean also includes several island territories that are either part of or dependent on France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These include Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy, and Saint Martin (France); Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and the Caribbean Netherlands (the Netherlands); Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos (United Kingdom); and Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands (United States). These territories are not considered in this project. Montserrat is a member state of both CARICOM and the OECS. However, since it is not a UN member state, we do not include it in our analysis.

Further reading:

Estela Aragón and Briana Mawby, Free Movement in the Caribbean: Economic and Security Dimensions, IOM, San José, 2019.

Ama Francis, Free Movement Agreements & Climate-Induced Migration: A Caribbean Case Study (September 1, 2019). Columbia Public Law Research Paper Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3464594

The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) was founded on 18 June 1981 with the adoption of the Treaty of Basseterre. The organization's original goals were to promote cooperation, solidarity, and economic integration by establishing a Common Market (Article 3 of the Treaty and Annex 1). One of the principles guiding the creation of this Common Market was the removal of barriers to the free movement of people. The Council of Ministers was responsible for overseeing this process and making recommendations for eliminating obstacles to free movement (Articles 3 and 12, Annex 1, 1981 Treaty).

However, free movement became a reality only when the Revised Treaty of Basseterre and Protocol of the Eastern Caribbean Economic Union were adopted on 18 June 2010. Articles 12 and 27 of the Protocol offer citizens of the Member States the right to free movement, non-discrimination in employment and self-employment, and the enjoyment of other contingent rights to freedom of movement.

Since the revised Treaty entered into force in 2011, the Authority—composed of the Heads of Government of the Member States and acting as the supreme policy-making organ of the organization—has adopted several Decisions binding on all Member States (Art. 8 Revised Treaty). This further deepens the free movement regime by offering OECS citizens indefinite entry into other states and contingent rights. In 2011, the Authority confirmed that the free movement regime had to be implemented from 1 August.

We have yet to receive the text of several key Decisions despite our best efforts and several communications sent to relevant OECS divisions. We have only had access to the Communiqués, which offer a summary of the norms adopted in a particular meeting of the Authority, or to media releases. Interestingly, the OECS website summarises the rights OECS citizens enjoy (here and here) but does not explain from which legal instruments those rights derive. This has obvious negative implications for legal certainty and the rule of law in general, which go beyond this project’s scope.

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The Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) was established on 1 August 1973, with the entry into force of the Treaty of Chaguaramas. CARICOM did not include the free movement of people as one of its objectives; it had a saving clause confirming that Member States had no obligation to admit nationals of other Member States (Article 38, 1973 Treaty). Starting on 31 July 1989, with the Grand Anse Declaration, the Conference of Heads of Government (Conference)—the main body of the Community responsible for setting its policy (Articles 6 and 8, 1973 Treaty)—began adopting a series of Declarations to enable the free movement of specific groups of skilled nationals. In 1995, the Conference agreed on the unrestricted movement of graduates of regional universities to work in any Common Market State. In 1996, it proposed extending this to artists, sportspersons, musicians, and media workers as early as possible.

The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas Establishing the Caribbean Community, including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), was adopted on 5 July 2001. It entered into force on 1 January 2006. Bahamas has not ratified the Treaty of Chaguaramas and thus does not apply the free movement of people regime (Aragón and IOM 2019, p. 47). Haiti has ratified the Treaty but has never implemented the CSME. However, some CARICOM Member States give special treatment to citizens of the Bahamas, as well as to those of Haiti (Acosta and Harris 2022, p. 25). Since Haiti has ratified the Treaty, its nationals are also entitled to an automatic six-month stay upon arrival in CARICOM Member States, subject to the rights of CARICOM Member States to refuse entry to undesirable persons or those who might become a charge on public funds. However, this is not respected in practice, and most Member States demand a visa from Haitians.

Articles 45 and 46 enshrined the free movement of certain categories of skilled community nationals. Five categories were initially included: university graduates, media workers, sportspersons, artists, and musicians. The Conference later progressively enlarged these categories, in line with the powers granted to do so under Article 46(4) of the Revised Treaty, to include teachers, nurses, domestic workers with Caribbean vocational qualification certificates (CVQs), artisans with CVQs, persons with associate degrees or CAPE or ‘A’ levels, agricultural workers, and security guards (Párraga and IOM, 2021, p. 49). CARICOM nationals willing to work in another Member State must apply for a skills certificate from the relevant authorities. Once obtained, the individual is granted work authorisation and indefinite stay (Lacarte et al., 2023, p. 22). Community nationals also have the right to establish and provide services in other Member States (Articles 33 and 37, 2001 Treaty). According to various studies – available below under the further reading section – several implementation challenges exist. The Freemove project does not assess implementation at the domestic level.

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