It is likely to take a year or more before Guyana signs CARICOM’s Protocol on Contingent Rights because of amendments to legislation that may be required to allow for the provisions of the protocol, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge says.
The protocol is in keeping with the objective of CARICOM’s Single Market and Economy and deals with the rights of persons, their spouses and dependents moving to other countries within CARICOM, under the free movement of skills regime.
The contingent rights speak to, among other things, the right of principal beneficiaries, their spouses and dependents to transfer capital into and from a host country; the right of non-discriminatory access to lands and other property; the right of the spouse and dependents to leave and re-enter the host country; the right of the spouse to work in the host country without a work permit and the right of dependents to access primary education.