BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – POLITICAL LEADER of St. Kitts and Nevis, Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris on Thursday afternoon (Jul. 6) formally signed the Caribbean Arrest Treaty with four other leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States.
The other countries are Dominica, Grenada, Guyana and St. Lucia.
The object of the Treaty is to establish within CARICOM a system of arrest and surrender of requested persons for the purpose of conducting a criminal prosecution for an applicable offence, or executing a custodial sentence where the requested persons have fled from justice after being sentenced for an applicable offence.
According to a press release from the Government of Guyana, the Treaty was first presented in draft when that South American country hosted the 28th Inter-sessional Meeting of the CARICOM Heads of Government Conference on February 16-17, 2017.
The release also stated that the Treaty was also presented for ratification at that meeting.
According to Kaieteur News, at a post-Cabinet press briefing back in February, Minister of State Joseph Harmon had said: “The adoption of this Treaty will simplify the procedures by which fugitives from justice are returned to participating member states, to face criminal prosecution or serve judicial sentences.”
The media house explained that the Treaty is one of the regional security instruments that was formulated to enhance cooperation among CARICOM Member States in the fight against crime and to reduce the complexity, cost and delay in the existing extradition arrangement in the region.
Ten other Member States are yet to sign on to the agreement.
The Caribbean Community is made up of 25 countries but five of them are Associated Members.
Those five Associated Members are Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The 10 full members that are yet to sign on to the agreement are Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
