Caribbean Community

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas, signed on 4 July 1973 by Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. It succeeded the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), which had operated since 1968. The treaty was substantially overhauled by the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, signed in 2001, which provides the legal basis for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

CARICOM has 15 member states, including Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. The Bahamas is a member of the Community but not of the Single Market. Several British, Dutch, and other Caribbean territories hold associate member or observer status.

The organization rests on four main pillars: economic integration, foreign policy coordination, human and social development, and security. Its principal organs are the Conference of Heads of Government (the supreme decision-making body), the Community Council of Ministers, and the CARICOM Secretariat, headquartered in Georgetown, Guyana. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), inaugurated in 2005 and seated in Port of Spain, serves as the authoritative interpreter of the Revised Treaty and as a final appellate court for those member states that have accepted its appellate jurisdiction.

CARICOM operates specialized institutions including the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), and the Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS). The bloc frequently coordinates voting positions at the UN General Assembly, particularly on climate change, small island developing states (SIDS) issues, and reparatory justice for slavery and indigenous genocide, advanced through the CARICOM Reparations Commission established in 2013.