(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Work is moving apace on the development of a Protocol on Contingent Rights linked to Free Movement within the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) aims to conclude the draft Protocol by the end of 2009.
The Officials on Contingent Rights held their second meeting from November 10-11, 2008 at the Headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana and agreed to a number of recommendations for inclusion in the Protocol. Among them are two broad areas: education and health.
Contingent Rights are those rights to which Skilled CARICOM nationals (and their dependents) are entitled when they exercise freedom of movement from one Member State to another to engage in an economic activity, such as employment or the provision of services.
According to CARICOM Specialist, Free Movement of Skills/Labour, Mr. Steven Mac Andrew, the officials still needed to iron out the specific entitlements to health and education, but, they have agreed to include in the Protocol the right of access to primary education for children of Skilled CARICOM nationals. Discussions with respect to secondary school education will continue.
Mr. Mac Andrew said major progress was made with regard to who should constitute dependents. He noted that while the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas stated that spouses and immediate family members should be accorded rights along with the Skilled CARICOM national (Principal Beneficiary), it was silent on who they should be.
Underscoring the importance of a Protocol on Contingent Rights to the CSME, Mr. Mac Andrew said that the need for such a regime emerged from the recognition that with the opening up of Free Movement of Skills within the Region, there was need for mechanisms to ensure social stability within Member States.
“We cannot have a situation in which when persons have moved, they have difficulties placing their children in school or their spouses have difficulties working; without Contingent Rights, unfavourable conditions will be created,” the CSME Specialist stated. Mr. Mac Andrew said the officials have fleshed out a set of parameters that defined immediate family members. Among them are: children under the age of 18; any child under the age of 25 still attending university or in school full time; any child of the Skilled National, who, due to disability, is a dependent; parents, and any other persons who are legally certified to be dependent on the Skilled CARICOM national.
Mr. Mac Andrew, who was at the time briefing the CARICOM Secretariat’s Public Information Unit, said that there was still need for further discussion on whether spouses of the Skilled CARICOM nationals in common law relationships should be included on the list of beneficiaries in the regime on Contingent Rights, since Member States have dissimilar laws regarding this kind of union.
The CARICOM Specialist on Free Movement said that the development of a Protocol on Contingent Rights was an evolving process. He noted that when the Officials were mandated by the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government to formulate the Protocol it was clear that the officials could not resolve some “burning issues” at that level.
With respect to a specific timeline for the development of the Protocol, Mr. Mac Andrew said that the aim is the end of 2009.
“Early in 2009, a meeting will be convened with the Prime Ministerial sub-Committee on the Single Market and during that meeting the Officials will table the outcome of its discussion,” he said.
He added that, the outcome of the meeting would also be tabled at the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) and the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) “to get a feel of what the Ministers think about the components which the officials have identified so far, and to resolve the outstanding issues.”
