The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is the proposed regional judicial tribunal to be established by the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice. It has had a long gestation period commencing in 1970 when the Jamaican delegation at the Sixth Heads of Government Conference, which convened in Jamaica, proposed the establishment of a Caribbean Court of Appeal in substitution for the Judicial Committee of the Privy council. Follow this link for CCJ additional information A Caribbean Court or courts might provide the independent judicial, regional interpretation and authority for some caribbean regional police.

 

Maritime law is a specialty of international law that deals with Sea and Ocean legal matters. For centuries maritime law was done in a haphazard, national manner with many loopholes, gaps, safe havens, and exceptions. However in the past few decades the Law of the Sea Convention has made things easier.

Part II Sec 2 Article 3 states that the soverign state has territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles while Part II Sec 4 Article 33 defines an additional Contiguous zone where the coastal State may exercise the control and to punish infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea; within 24 nautical miles. Part V Article 57 says that beyond that is the exclusive economic zone out 200 nautical miles. Additionally another part of the Law of the Sea talks about continental shelf also out 200 nautical miles.

National ships, planes and helicopters can and should provide national capacity to patrol the whole EEZ but as a practical matter currently some Caribbean states do not have the capacity and technology and funds to provide seperate capability. The the Regional Security System however does a lot of simmilar tasks in the Eastern Caribbean and is a homegrown precedent for future cooperative maritime and security matters.

 

In the European Union there was a debate over nation capablitiy and regional cooperation and the EU decided to create and improve Europol which is a regional police powered law enforcement agency for various purposes. However the Caribbean is different, Europe is a continent while the Caribbean has islands and lots of sea; the EU has lots of borders between members while island states have no direct neighbors; CARICOM is not the same structure as the EU, etc.

While a "Caribpol" might be interesting and possibly needed there is a unique need for a maritime police or coast guard style agency either as an enhancement of CARICOM perhaps through a protocol or possibly it's own new treaty or agreement.

 

In the last few decades the transnational criminal smuggling of drugs has become a big problem for the Caribbean and the whole world. Since many smugglers use sea and air routes to transport drugs and some of the Caribbean Area has seen a growing presence of smuggling this law enforcement issue needs to be approached regionally. The nations in the Caribbean and the hemisphere are working on this and the OAS CICAD Commission has worked on a maritime agreement for Caribbean drug control and additional measures.

 

The search and rescue mission area of the Caribbean Coast Guard of course helps vessels in distress, but the CCG could do more than just SAR there is the larger possibility of the CCG providing a security role for the Caribbean. While the CCG is a police agency not a naval force, there are areas when during emergency or crisis the CCG would act.

Assistance in natural and man-made disasters: If there are hurricane or flooding or volanic or other natural disasters; sometimes public safety and emergency management needs require security assistance from inside and outside national jurisdiction. If an industrial accident or inferno or spill or other man-made disaster requires evacuation or other measures sometimes a sealift capability would be needed for the region.

Protection of off-shore installations: Should be a national concern but practical necessity shows that a regional approach is cheaper and better. Seperate, national solutions can be a duplication of effort.

Immigration control: Refugee matters may need a Caribbean Coast Guard as a neutral, regional agency especially it the persons are in international waters. Customs agencies and port authorities may need to call on the CCG for hot pursuit and apprehension of suspect vessels.

Peacekeeping: The involvement of the CARICOM Battalion in a peacekeeping style mission in the United Nations UNMIH Mission in Haiti shows that sometimes peacekeeping by regional neighbors brings benefit to the region. The CCG could provide a peacekeeping role in air and sea and also provide some sealift or airlift capability for the CARICOM Battalion or others.

Threats to national security: Cuban troops in Grenada and the political problems experienced there prompted the OECS and the US to intervene in Grenada to liberate the island. It is possible that a war could be fought in or near the Caribbean and the threat to security may put the CCG in a temporary, regional, limited naval role until the end of the crisis. Normally the CCG would be a police agency but local sovereignty is important to Caribbeans so the CCG would be there in an emergency.