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The hemispheric Organisation of American States has
a commission on drug control - the
INTER-AMERICAN DRUG ABUSE CONTROL COMMISSION, CICAD, which met in Trinidad
and Tobago for the XXVIII Regular Session this past Oct. 24-28,
2000. The Commission participants there worked up and commented on a Draft Agreement on Caribbean area maritime drug control. If this agreement is implemented and actively pursued in the field by law enforcement officials this would impact the international drug trade. The agreement will include not only CARICOM nations, but also The Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, the local territories of EU nations France, Netherlands, and the UK, Mexico, Canada and the US (icl. US territories), most Central American nations and Panama, and maybe Cuba. Below is some of the language excerpted from CICAD/doc.1076/00 rev.1 ARTICLE 14 - MARITIME LAW ENFORCEMENT PROGRAMS FOR THE CARIBBEAN AREA 1. The Parties shall establish a regional and subregional maritime law enforcement programs among their law enforcement authorities. Each Party shall designate a coordinator to organize its participation and to identify the vessels, aircraft and officials involved in the program to the other Parties. 2. The Parties undertake to assign qualified personnel to regional and subregional coordination centers established for the purpose of coordinating the detection, surveillance and interception of vessels and aircraft engaged in illicit traffic by and over the sea. ARTICLE 16 - Shipriders embark on law enforcement vessels of any of the participating Parties; enforce the laws to suppress illicit traffic of the designating Party in the designating Party's waters, or seaward therefrom in the exercise of the right of hot pursuit or otherwise in accordance with international law; authorize the entry of the law enforcement vessels on which they are embarked into and navigation within the waters of the designating Party; authorize the law enforcement vessels on which they are embarked to conduct counter drug patrols in the waters of the designating Party; authorize law enforcement officials of the participating Parties to assist in the enforcement of the laws to suppress illicit traffic of the designating Party; and advise and assist law enforcement officials of the participating Parties in the conduct of boardings of vessels to enforce the laws to suppress illicit traffic of the participating Parties." ARTICLE 19 - A Party may request aircraft support from other Parties for assistance, including monitoring and surveillance, in suppressing illicit traffic. Each Party permits aircraft of participating Parties, when engaged in law enforcement operations or operations in support of law enforcement activities, to overfly its territory and waters; and subject to the laws of that Party and of the participating Parties, order aircraft suspected of trafficking in illegal drugs to land in its territory." Other parts of the draft agreement: For those situations when law enforcement officials of one Party encounter a vessel flying the flag of another Party or claiming to be registered in that Party, located seaward of any State's territorial sea, and they have reasonable grounds to suspect that the vessel is engaged in illicit traffic, subject to paragraph 2, this Agreement constitutes the authorization of the claimed flag State Party for the boarding and search of the suspect vessel, its cargo and the persons found on board by such officials. If there is no response from the claimed flag State within two (2) hours of its receipt of the oral request, the requesting Party should be deemed to have been authorized to board the suspect vessel for the purpose of inspecting the vessel's documents, questioning the persons on board, and searching the vessel and cargo to determine if it is engaged in illicit traffic." This part talks about asset seizure in regional/non-territorial waters: Assets seized in consequence of any operation undertaken seaward of the territorial sea of any State pursuant to this Agreement shall be disposed of in accordance with the laws of the seizing Party. What this means for the Caribbean Coast Guard: Law enforcement and drug control are policy areas directly part of the CCG. This draft agreement states: Regional Cooperation Programs ARTICLE 3 - REGIONAL CO-OPERATION PROGRAMS FOR THE CARIBBEAN AREA 1. Recognizing that, as the nature of illicit traffic urgently requires the Parties to foster regional and subregional cooperation, the Parties shall take the steps necessary to meet the objectives of this Agreement, including the enhancement of existing or development of new international institutions, on a cost-effective basis, and the coordination and implementation of cooperation. Such institutions shall be made the object of separate arrangements. 2. Each Party is encouraged to enter into subregional or bilateral agreements established to meet the objectives of this Agreement, consistent with Article 9 of the 1988 Convention and Article 52 of the United Nations Charter. So let's get busy and fully back a Caribbean Coast Guard. We could enhance CARICOM or the OECS. A protocol or a new agreement would work. Or pass a Regional Security System sytle treaty for the whole area. As far as funding operational expenses, the asset siezures outside territorial waters is one source for some of the funds. North America and/or the EU should provide a turn-key complete and integrated solution and offer this to CARICOM and others. |