Gya: Caricom wants teeth

THERE is much merit in the call by Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, Edwin Carrington, for CARICOM governments to elevate the Community's 'Charter for Civil Society’ to an obligatory, enforceable instrument for improved governance.

It is now seven years since Heads of Government signed the Charter and recommended implementation of its provisions that address significant issues of fundamental rights, good governance, participation in the economy as well as the rights and responsibilities of the people themselves.

But the Charter has remained more of a declaration of intent, an instrument that exhorts rather than one that has legislative endorsement for binding obligations.

This serious weakness became quite evident with the governance crisis in Haiti when CARICOM leaders were left to merely caution then President Jean Bertrand Aristide about likely sanctions within the framework of the Charter for Civil Society, while being aware that no punitive action could in fact be implemented with any certainty of sustainability.