The Caribbean Community: The Caribbean Community

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is an organizational body that is located in Greater George Town ,Guyana. The organization was established by countries such as Jamaica , Guyana,Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados for the purpose of establishing economic intergration , coordination of foreign policy and security throughout the region (The Caribbean Community, n.d). CARICOM consists of fifteen member countries which include Antigua and Barbuda , The

Bahamas,Barbados , Belize, The Commonwealth of Dominica ,Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, and Suriname. These countries are binded by an agreement called the Treaty of Chaguaramas (Caribbean Countries, n.d). Many of the Caribbean English speaking

The Members of Parliament acts as the representative voice of the people .All legislation must be approved by the leader of the governing party ; who is not selected by voters but by party members , Members of Parliament and the Senate (Government and Political systems, n.d).

Many years later after independence, the Westminster system is no longer able to adapt to the present needs of the Caribbean region . The Caribbean’s democracy is under existential threat (Girvan,2011) because of factors such as poor economy , the drug trade , globalization , the increase of crime and poor administration of justice throught the Caribbean .Hence, there are some Caribbean countries that call for the ousting of the Westminster Systme through referendumand constitutional reform to include the use of an alternative system of governing that is more suitable for the Caribbean

In an effort to change and integrate the region it was decided that a court would be required to settle trade disputes and criminal matters . So in 2001, the Caribean Court of Justice (CCJ) was established and in augurated in 2005 by CARICOM. The CCJ is located in Port of Spain , Trinidad and Tabago and it is the highest appellate court in the Caribbean for those countries that have joined the CCJ (Caricom, n.d).

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is to replace the Privy Council which is the hightest court of appeals under the British system government. The Privy Council deals with matters concerning the violation of human rights and freedoms of citizens, interpretation of the provisions in the constitution ,civil matters involving money over a specified amount and special petitions. However ,there have been recent campaigns to discontinue the use of the Privy Council within the region particularly because of its position against the death penalty (