The Caribbean Community (Caricom) is in no position to apply sanctions on the Dominican Republic in response to the Constitutional Court decision on nationality and legalization of foreigners. This is due to the fact that the country is not a member of the organization, says Cesar Dargam, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations. He points out that the country only has a Free Trade Agreement with Caricom and that its membership is with Cariforum, an entity linked to the ACP Group (African, Caribbean and Pacific).
Caricom was scheduled to meet in Trinidad on Monday 18 November to establish a united position on the proposed sanctions spurred by the government of Haiti that opposes the Dominican Republic’s decision to legalize immigrants from Haiti and not automatically grant citizenship to anyone who can claim to have been born here. The announced meeting was reportedly suspended and a new date has not been set. The reason given was that several key leaders were not available to attend, including President Michel Martelly of Haiti as reported in Trinidad & Tobago press.
“Many of these things we are seeing on the international scene are smokescreens and noise. We have seen how they threatened to take the Dominican Republic to a Caricom meeting where it would be sanctioned. Neither did the Caricom meeting take place nor is Caricom in any position to sanction the Dominican Republic,” Dargam stressed.
He stated that the country has been prudent and conscious of its obligations at the international level, adding that this same position would continue to be upheld.
Dargam recalled that the Dominican Republic is a member of the Caribbean Forum (Cariforum) and in Cariforum it is not up to the states to decide on who is a member or not. He went on to say that the country has been a member of the Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP Group) since 1989, with a very active participation”. Dargam said that the commitments taken on have been at the country level and not at the level of a bloc; “for this reason we say that perhaps this is a smokescreen that they have put up with these statements.”
Cariforum comprises the members of Caricom, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. The overriding objectives of Cariforum are to manage and coordinate policy dialogue between the Caribbean Region and the European Union, and to promote integration and cooperation in the Caribbean.
In 2008, Caricom and the Dominican Republic signed the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). The EPA’s Regional Preference clause obliges Cariforum states to extend to each other the same treatment they extend to the EU.
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2013/11/21/i411922_cancilleraa-afirma-que-caricom-puede-imponer-sancian-repablica-dominicana.html
www.caricom.org/jsp/community_organs/cariforum/cariforum_main_page.jsp?menu=cob