The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has expressed dismay over one of the recommendations put forth by the Report of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Commission of Inquiry (CoI) in the aftermath of the arrest of the former BVI premier last week in a drug-smuggling sting operation.
According a CARICOM press statement yesterday, the Report, which was released on April 29, 2022, contained what it referred to as “far-reaching” recommendations while reminding that BVI, a British Overseas Territory, has been an Associate Member of the Community since July 1991.
CARICOM made it clear in its release that it supports the decision of the duly elected government of the BVI to welcome the recommendations for improving governance and their commitment to work with the United Kingdom to address the weaknesses identified in the CoI report. It also stated its agreement to the people of BVI and their duly elected representatives having the responsibility to ensure good governance “with full transparency and accountability,” adding that they should work together to achieve “mutually acceptable solutions” to address the concerns highlighted in the COI report.
However, what is alarming to CARICOM, is the recommendation contained in the report that seeks to suspend “those parts of the Constitution by which areas of government are assigned to elected representatives.” This it views as the taking of a “retrograde step” of restoring direct rule by the Governor in Council as existed in Her Majesty’s colonies during the colonial period.
In this matter, CARICOM asserted its support for the BVI government and people in their objection to this recommendation.
The release also reminded that “the imposition of direct rule, and the history of such imposition in the Caribbean, was never intended to deliver democratic governance or to be an instrument of economic and social development of our countries and peoples.”
CARICOM also contended that any action to suspend the House of Assembly in the BVI and impose direct rule from London would be “inconsistent” with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Accordingly, it sought to remind the United Kingdom of its international obligations in respect of United Nations Resolution 1514 of 1960 – the United Nations Declaration on The Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and peoples, the release added.
