Regional Security System | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Base | Grantley Adams International Airport |
| Type | Military alliance |
| Time zone | UTC -4 (AST) |
The Regional Security System (RSS) is an international agreement for the defence and security of the eastern Caribbean region with future expansion planned with South America.
The Regional Security System was created in 1982 to counter threats to the stability of the region in the late 1970s and early 1980s. On 29 October, four members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Barbados to provide for "mutual assistance on request". The signatories agreed to prepare contingency plans and assist one another, on request, in national emergencies, prevention of smuggling, search and rescue, immigration control, fishery protection, customs and excise control, maritime policing duties, protection of off-shore installations, pollution control, national and other disasters, and threats to national security. [1] Saint Kitts and Nevis joined following independence in 1983, and Grenada followed two years later after Operation Urgent Fury, a combined US and RSS invasion of the country. The MOU was updated in 1992 and the system acquired juridical status on 5 March 1996 under the Treaty which was signed at St. Georges, Grenada.
The RSS initially started as a US instrument to combat the spread of communism in the Caribbean region. [2] [3] As of 2001, the RSS further cooperates with the CARICOM Regional Task Force on Crime and Security (CRTFCS). [4]
In June 2010, United States and Caribbean regional officials resumed a plan for close cooperation established under the former Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean (PPS) from the Clinton era. [5] As part of the joint agreement the United States pledged assistance with the creation of an Eastern Caribbean Coast Guard unit among RSS countries. [6] The United States Coast Guard unit will underpin the wider US-Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) which has deemed the RSS as "central to the CBSI’s success, given its reach across the Eastern Caribbean." [6]
Subsequently, Canada also pledged collaboration with the RSS bloc [7] [8] to combat a threat of Central American criminal gangs from expanding into the English-speaking Caribbean region. [9]
| Date | RSS Operation name [10] | Country | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Grenada Intervention | Grenada | Restore a government in Grenada. U.S. military participation ( Operation Urgent Fury ). |
| 1989 | Hugo | Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat and Saint Kitts and Nevis | Assistance in aftermath of Hurricane Hugo |
| 1990 | Coup | Trinidad and Tobago | Aftermath of an attempted coup d'état in Trinidad and Tobago. |
| 1994 | Internal Security | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Prison riot |
| 1995 | Luis, Marilyn | Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Kitts and Nevis | Assistance in aftermath of Hurricane Luis and Hurricane Marilyn |
| 1998 | Georges | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Assistance in aftermath of Hurricane Georges |
| 1998 | Weedeater | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Eradication of cannabis |
| 2003 | Bordelais | Saint Lucia | Transfer prisoners to new prison facility |
| 2004 | Ivan Relief Efforts | Grenada | Assistance in aftermath of Hurricane Ivan |
| 2006 | Glendairy | Barbados | Prison uprising |
| 2009 | Operation VINCYPAC | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Eradicaton of cannabis |
| 2010 | Haiti | Haiti | Assistance in aftermath of the Haiti 2010 earthquake |
| 2017 | Dominica | Dominica | Assistance in aftermath of the Hurricane Maria in 2017. RSS was instrumental in the restoration of order after widespread looting and destruction of property |
The RSS is based in Barbados at the Paragon Centre, headed by many regional army chiefs. It mainly serves as a defence system for the Caribbean Sea, conducting many operations by detecting and combating cross-Atlantic and intra-Caribbean drug smuggling, protection of the sovereignty of the nations of the Caribbean, providing assistance to Caribbean countries at the request of governments and are usually the first to respond after natural disasters occur, such as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes.
The current member nations are:
Antigua and Barbuda (since 1982)
Barbados (since 1982)
Dominica (since 1982)
Grenada (since 1985)
Guyana (since 2022)
Saint Kitts and Nevis (since 1983)
Saint Lucia (since 1982)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (since 1982)In 2022 following the Internationally Energy Conference and Expo Guyana 2022, it was declared that The Co-Operative Republic of Guyana would be signing onto the protocol as a member of the RSS. [11] In September 2022, Guyana formally joined the RSS after the president of Guyana signed the Instrument of Accession. [12]
Saint Lucia maintains friendly relations with the major powers active in the Caribbean, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and France. Saint Lucia has no extant international disputes, aside from tension resulting from the island's status as a transit point for South American drugs destined for the United States and Europe.
The Caribbean Community is an intergovernmental organisation that is a political and economic union of 15 member states throughout the Americas and Atlantic Ocean. They have primary objectives to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and coordinate foreign policy. The organisation was established in 1973, with its four founding members signing the Treaty of Chaguaramas. Its primary activities involve:
Barbados is a continental island in the North Atlantic Ocean and is located at 13°10' north of the equator, and 59°32' west of the Prime Meridian. As the easternmost isle of the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies, Barbados lies 160 kilometres (100 mi) east of the Windward Islands and Caribbean Sea. The maritime claim for Barbados is a territorial sea of 12 nmi, with an exclusive economic zone of 200 nmi which gives Barbados a total maritime area of 186,898 km2 (72,162 sq mi). Of the total EEZ area, 70,000 km2 is set aside for offshore oil exploration. A pending application to UNCLOS has placed for consideration a continental shelf 200 nmi to the east and south. To the west, most of Barbados' maritime boundaries consist of median lines with neighbours. These neighbours include: Martinique, and Saint Lucia to the northwest, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the west, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela to the southwest, and Guyana to the southeast.
The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance between countries and territories in the Eastern Caribbean. It also performs the role of spreading responsibility and liability in the event of natural disaster.
Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) is an international airport at Seawell, Christ Church, Barbados, serving as the country's only port of entry by air.
The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) is an examination board in the Caribbean. It was established in 1972 under agreement by the participating governments in the Caribbean Community to conduct such examinations as it may think appropriate and award certificates and diplomas on the results of any such examinations so conducted. The council is empowered to regulate the conduct of any such examinations and prescribe the qualification requirements of candidates and the fees payable by them. It is now an examining body that provides educational certifications in 16 English speaking Commonwealth Caribbean Countries and Territories and has replaced the General Certificate of Education (GCE) examinations used by England and some other members of the Commonwealth. The CXC is an institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM); it was recognised as an Associate Institution of the Community in the 1973 treaty that created the Caribbean Community. Members of the council are drawn from the 16 territories and the region's two universities, the University of Guyana and the University of the West Indies.
The High Commission of Canada in Barbados is Canada's main diplomatic mission to Barbados. The exact location is Bishop's Hill Court in Bridgetown, St. Michael. The auspices of the High Commission to Barbados also include issues involving the neighbouring Eastern Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as three British overseas territories: Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and Montserrat. It also includes consular and trade services for Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin and Sint Maarten.
The following is a list of heads of government of the members states of CARICOM:
The CARICOM Single Market and Economy, also known as the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), is an integrated development strategy envisioned at the 10th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) which took place in July 1989 in Grand Anse, Grenada. The Grand Anse Declaration had three key Features:
The Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) was an english speaking economic trade organization. It organised on 1 May 1968, to provide a continued economic linkage between the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean. The agreements establishing it came following the dissolution of the West Indies Federation which lasted from 1958 to 1962.
The CARICOM passport is a passport document issued by the 15 member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for their citizens. It can be used both for intra-regional and international travel. The passport was created to facilitate intra-region travel; however, citizens of the OECS that are citizens from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Guyana and St. Vincent and the Grenadines may use a member-state issued drivers licence, national identification card, voters registration card or social security card for travel within the OECS area.
This article deals with the diplomatic affairs, foreign policy and international relations of Barbados.
Antigua and Barbuda maintains diplomatic relations with the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the People's Republic of China, as well as with many Latin American countries and neighbouring Eastern Caribbean states. It is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organization of American States, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, Petrocaribe and the Eastern Caribbean's Regional Security System (RSS).
The Caribbean or West Indies is a subregion of the Americas that includes the Caribbean Sea and its islands, some of which are surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some of which border both the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean; the nearby coastal areas on the mainland are often also included in the region. The region is southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the North American mainland, east of Central America, and north of South America.
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The Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean (PPS) is a regional-level dialogue with the stated purpose of providing greater cooperation on security and economic issues. The Partnership was founded in Bridgetown, Barbados on March 10, 1997 by the Governments of the United States of America, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the Commonwealth of Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, the Republic of Haiti, Jamaica, the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Republic of Suriname and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
CARIPASS is a voluntary travel card programme that will provide secure and simple border crossings for Caribbean Community (CARICOM) citizens and some legal residents of CARICOM nations. The CARIPASS initiative is coordinated by the Implementation Agency for Crime and Security, and seeks to provide standardised border control facilities within participating Caribbean communities.
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