Tag Archives: Barbados

Human Rights in the context of the International Climate Change Agenda

Posted on by Leave a comment

Stefan Newton, Guest Contributor

snewton

Stefan Newton

In her address to the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Prime Minister of Barbados, the Hon. Mia Mottley, abandoned a scripted speech and made a passionate appeal to United Nations (UN) Member states to make good on their commitments to climate change under the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC). She urged States to accelerate mobilizing the necessary funding for climate adaptation and mitigation under The Green Climate Fund.

In thinly veiled remarks, she criticized the current position of the United States of America (USA) by refusing to acknowledge the reality of climate change, noting “For us it is about saving lives. For others it is about saving profits”. It is well known by now that the USA has regrettably withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement: which builds upon the UNFCCC and for the first time brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so.

Moreover, the Prime Minister pointed to the need for UN Member States to recognize that “mighty or small we must protect each other in this world”. In closing her speech, she appealed to the international community to exercise empathy and care for those States and their citizens who are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. I humbly submit that this is perhaps the most significant speech given by a Barbadian leader to the United Nations, as it impinges on Barbados’ very survival as a nation State. Indeed, if climate change ambitions are not met, Barbados and its citizens will face very certain demise due to the effects of climate change.

Climate Change is a Human Rights Problem

While climate change is most often viewed as an environmental problem, it is also very much a human rights problem. Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and former High Commissioner for Human Rights, has described climate change as “probably the greatest human rights challenge of the 21st century”.

Explicit mention of human rights is now being made in international climate agreements. The Preamble to the Paris Agreement to the UNFCCC calls for all States, when acting to address climate change, to “respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights”. The World Bank Report on Human Rights and Climate Change highlights the relevancy of international human rights law to climate change by linking particular social and human impacts of climate change to special human rights standards under international human rights treaties, thereby confirming human rights impacts. For example, the right to life is the most fundamental human right and well enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

A number of observed and projected effects of climate change will pose direct and indirect threats to the human right to life. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects with high confidence an increase in people suffering from death, disease and injury from heat waves, floods, storms etc. Equally, climate change will affect the right to life through an increase in malnutrition, cardio- respiratory morbidity and mortality related climate change effects.

Despite the clear human rights implications of failure to act to combat climate change, the international community is not “grasping the baton firmly” enough through decisive policy actions to reach the ambitions of the climate change agenda. The USA- Trump led administration seems to be a lost cause with its view that climate change is a fiction. Heeding Prime Minister Mottley’s call to climate action will most likely be viewed by them as a mere courtesy, not an obligation. However, it can be soundly argued that Prime Minister Mottley’s urging of States to protect each other from the effects of climate change, are not merely aspirational or appeals to international consciousness, but are linked to and grounded in legally binding international human rights principles.

Legal Link between Human Rights and Climate Change

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has set out the essentials of the legal dimensions link between Human Rights and Climate Change. International Human Rights principles to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of all people without discrimination gives rise to a wide range of duties for State in acting on climate change. I will touch on three.

First, under these principles is the duty to mitigate climate change and to prevent its negative human rights impacts. Failure to take affirmative action to prevent human rights harms caused by climate change, including foreseeable long-term harms, breaches this obligation. Second is the duty to ensure that all persons have the necessary capacity to adapt to climate change. Falling under this duty States must ensure that appropriate adaptation measures are taken to protect and fulfil the rights of all persons, particularly those most endangered by the negative impacts of climate change e.g. small islands, riparian and low-lying coastal zones. Third, under core human rights treaties, States acting individually or collectively are obliged to mobilize and allocate the maximum available resources for the progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights, as well as the advancement of civil and political rights and the right to development. The failure to adopt reasonable measures to mobilize available resources to prevent foreseeable climate change harm breaches this obligation.

Incorporating Human Rights into Climate Change Policy Discussions

Besides recognizing the legal implications of international human rights law as it pertains to climate change, Caribbean policy makers should also recognize the value added of incorporating human rights into discussions around climate change policy.

Among other things, a focus on human rights law may serve to locate policy within the framework of internationally agreed obligations and acceptance of certain goods, interests or goals as rights. This has the effect of establishing a hierarchy of importance among policy goals, helping to ensure that human rights are not traded off among interests lacking that status. Simply put, human rights place people before profits. This is critical as more firms and investors enter the Caribbean market whose activities may have climate and environmental impacts.

Additionally, human rights offer a normative and institutional framework for strengthened accountability and international co-operation for those responsible for adverse impacts of climate change. It may be argued that states should be encouraged to take climate action on this basis and do more in their capacity to assist and contribute to the financing of climate adaptation programs. This might be a useful bargaining chip in the realm of international relations and negotiations. For small developing states, such accountability can be used as a tool of moral suasion against large carbon emitting States like the USA which have retreated from global actions on climate change, or to spur States who are already implementing climate action targets to redouble their efforts.

Diagonal Environmental Rights

Further to policy, human rights law has an incredible potential to fill in a missing legal gap present in the international legal framework addressing climate change. The carbon emissions from large industrial States have a disproportionate impact on small lesser emitting States. Citizens of small developing States are thus marginalized and face aggravated vulnerability to human rights impacts from climate change. Yet currently there exists no formal legal mechanism for citizens to claim climate justice against large states responsible for impacting on and violating their human rights. This is referred to a Diagonal Environmental Rights; a term coined by John Knox the United Nations Independent on Human Rights relating to a safe, healthy and sustainable environment. Without going into the theory of a State’s extra-territorial human rights obligations, and proving causation, I submit that the ability to claim climate justice is well founded in the principles of international law.

As previously stated, no formal international diagonal environmental rights legal mechanism exists. Given the state of geo- political madness that has taken hold of multilateralism, I also do not see one being created and implemented by UN Member States. As the experience of the Paris Agreement has shown, it is a challenge just to get a critical mass of countries- let alone all countries- to participate in an international environmental agreement.

Therefore, the greatest hope is that existing international human rights mechanisms, such as the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR), and domestic courts are flexible enough to accommodate climate change litigation. There has been jurisprudence emerging from domestic courts that successfully incorporates rights-based arguments to climate change e.g. Pakistan in the case of Leghari v Federation of Pakistan.

Albeit these claims were made in the context of litigation by citizens against their own State for failing to respond to climate change. Nevertheless, such cases do much to add shape and contour to this emerging body of climate justice jurisprudence. They set precedents on which international, and broader litigation may find success.

Stefan Newton is a graduate of the University of the West Indies Faculty of Law.  The views reflected here are entirely his own.

Advertisements

Barbados ratifies WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

Posted on by Leave a comment

Alicia Nicholls

On January 31, 2018, Barbados became the 130th World Trade Organisation (WTO) member to ratify the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement.

According to the press release from the Barbados Government Information Service (GIS), “the instrument of ratification was formally handed over by Ambassador to the United Nations and Other International Organisations, Bentley Gibbs, to Secretary General of  the WTO, Robert Azevedo, in Geneva, Switzerland”.

The Trade Facilitation Agreement came out of the WTO’s Bali Ministerial in 2013 and entered into force in February 22, 2017 after two-thirds of the WTO’s membership ratified the Agreement. It aims to expedite the movement, release and clearance of goods across borders by reducing red tape, improving transparency and facilitating cooperation among customs authorities.

The benefits of these provisions, once implemented, include reducing trade costs for businesses, increasing participation in global value chains and improving trade flows. Ratification of the Agreement is, therefore, an important signal to investors of a country’s commitment to improving its business environment for trade.

In keeping with the principle of Special and Differential Treatment, there are implementation flexibilities in Section II for developing and least developed countries, recognising they may need more time to implement the provisions of the Agreement. Like other developing and least developed countries, Barbados has access to the Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility which provides assistance for notification, capacity-building support and grants.

The following other Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have already ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement: Trinidad & Tobago, Belize, Guyana, Grenada  and St. Lucia (2015), Jamaica and St. Kitts & Nevis  (2016), St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Dominican Republic and Antigua & Barbuda (2017).

Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B., is an international trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.

The Trump Presidency – Implications and Opportunities for Caribbean IFCs

Posted on by Leave a comment

Alicia Nicholls

On March 31, 2017 I was a panellist representing FRANHENDY ATTORNEYS at the Barbados International Business Association (BIBA) Barbados International Business Forum 2017 entitled “Is the Barbados International Business Sector Under Attack?” held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre in Barbados.

I was on the second panel which discussed the topic “The Trump Presidency – Implications and Opportunities for IFCs“. My esteemed fellow panellists were Jeremy Stephen, Economist and UWI Lecturer, Lisa Cummins, Executive Director of UWIConsulting and Cadian Dummond, Attorney at Law. The discussion was expertly moderated by Melanie Jones, Partner at Lex Caribbean Attorneys-At-Law.

I spoke to the possible implications of the Trump Presidency in regards to de-risking, FATCA and visa restrictions.

For those who missed the panel discussion and have expressed interest in my remarks, please find a copy of same in powerpoint form here. Enjoy!

For more on past presentations I have done, please see news and announcements.

Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B., is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.

 

 

Happy 50th Anniversary of Independence Barbados! Tribute to Barbados at 50

Posted on by Leave a comment

Alicia Nicholls

I would like to take this opportunity to extend a happy 50th Anniversary of Independence to all my fellow Barbadians both at home and in the diaspora. Our country Barbados, with an area of just 166 sq miles and a population of around 280,000, may be little more than a small dot on the geographical map but it is hard to deny how far we have come from a small British colony prior to November 30, 1966.

Barbados lacks any real natural resources. But thanks to the steady hand of successive governments, we became a country that former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, once described as “punching above its weight”. We are known as the inventors of road tennis, home to the third oldest Parliament in the world, the birthplace of international superstar Rihanna, the greatest cricketer the world has ever seen Sir Garfield Sobers and the inventor of the precursor to the search engine Alan Emtage, just to name a few.

We cultivated a reputation both in the Caribbean and abroad as a country with an enviable level of social development, respect for the rule of law, good governance, a strong democratic tradition,  a 99% literacy rate, and a well-educated people who make our country proud wherever we roam. We punch above our weight on social indicators, ranking high on the Human Development Index. We are classified by the World Bank as a high income non-OECD country. In our 50 years of independence, we can boast of always having peaceful transitions of power. Political assassinations, coup d’etats, dictatorships and civil wars are alien to the Barbadian way and have never occurred in our country.

On the global stage we have earned the respect of fellow countries by joining with other developing countries to provide decisive leadership on international issues affecting small island developing states such as climate change, and on issues critical to small vulnerable economies in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Like every country, Barbados is not without its challenges. The post-Global Recession years have not been kind, exposing structural weaknesses which have festered for too long and need to be addressed by decisive leadership. There are things we need to improve upon to ensure that the gains our forefathers, like the late father of independence, Errol Walton Barrow, worked hard to build, will remain for future generations. Complacency will do us no favours.

However, despite the challenges, I have no doubt we have the skills and creativity to overcome them. We just need the will. When I saw the recent newspaper article which showed some 110 people became new Barbadian citizens at the latest citizenship ceremony, it reiterated to me why we Barbadians are so proud of our country. For all its faults, there is no place like the 246. No matter where we roam, the “Rock” will always be home.

Happy 50th Anniversary of Independence, Barbados!

Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B., is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.

Evaluating Barbados’ WEF GCI Competitiveness Scorecard: Is Top of the Regional Class Good Enough?

Posted on by Leave a comment

Alicia Nicholls

Barbados made its grand reappearance on the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) 2016-2017 after data shortages precluded its 2014-2015 inclusion. According to the WEF’s scorecard, the region’s star pupil topped its Latin American and Caribbean peers in the following subjects: infrastructure, labour market efficiency and technological readiness.

Barbados is a 166 sq  miles (431 sq km) island nation with a population of about 280,000, a GDP of US4.4 billion and a GDP per capita of US$15,773, which puts us in the high income non-OECD range according to the World Bank. On the surface Barbados’ scorecard is commendable, particularly for a small island developing state (SIDS) whose recovery from the 2008/2009 global economic and financial crisis has been slow and protracted. Personally for me as a Barbadian I am proud of the achievements my country has made since our independence from the UK just shy of 50 years ago.

But before we uncork the champagne, several things should give us pause. First, Barbados’ current rank of 72nd out of 138 economies marks a precipitous drop from its ranking in the GCI 2012-2013 where it was ranked 44th place out of 144 economies. Second, contrast this slide with the performance of another small island developing state (SIDS), Mauritius, which was ranked 54th in GCI 2012-2013 and has risen slowly but surely up the ranks to reach 45th place out of 138 economies in GCI 2016-2017. Third, only three other Caribbean economies were included on the index this year. While Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago lost ground, the other two Caribbean economies, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, improved their rankings. Fourth, Barbados’ performance on eleven of the twelve pillars has been on a downward slope since 2012-2013.

The Good

Barbados’ top scores were in higher education and training, and infrastructure, where it ranked 29th and 30th respectively. For example, it ranks 6th in fixed-telephone lines /100 population and 25th in overall quality of infrastructure.  These have for a long time been among the island’s competitive advantages despite its small size. However, while the gross tertiary education enrolment rate is 36%, this is likely to decline given the removal of tuition-free tertiary education in 2014.

Barbados also ranks 31st in technological readiness which is the only one of the twelve pillars on which the island’s performance remains on an upward trajectory. It ranks a commendable 10th in internet bandwidth kb/s/user. Unlike the other three Caribbean economies included, corruption was not seen as a major problem in Barbados.

The Bad

The GCI is a useful tool for policy makers to benchmark their economy’s current against its historical performance across over 100 competitiveness indicators. Factors which, according to the WEF GCI, affect doing business in Barbados are: poor work ethic in the national labour force, inefficient government bureaucracy, tax rates, restrictive labour regulations and access to financing.

Not surprisingly, market size and the macroeconomic environment are the island’s Achilles heel and are a drag on the island’s competitiveness. The Central Bank of Barbados reports economic growth of 1.3% for the first half of 2016 but the island’s fiscal deficit and public debt remain unsustainably high. The island’s economic fragility is reflected in the low rankings on indicators such as government budget balance as % of GDP (122nd), gross national savings (127th) and government debt (127th). The island is rated 72 out of 100 for country credit rating, reflecting the successive downgrades since 2009 and could decline as the downgrades continue. Under the market size pillar, the country ranked 135th out of 136 on GDP (PPP).

The Way Forward

The GCI is an important scorecard showing the areas in which an economy is doing well, and those in which remedial attention is needed. Barbados remains a preferred jurisdiction in the Caribbean for doing business and the report shows that the island has clear competitive advantages in some areas that policymakers and the private sector should continue to build on and leverage in our investment promotions.

However, I believe that while Barbados remains top of the class in the Caribbean, the island’s continued slippage in the rankings, including in areas which are our competitive advantage, is a concern. I dare say that top of the class in this case is not good enough. Discerning investors consult several indices, including the GCI, when considering potential investment locations. Barbados’ previous A-class performance on these indices was one of its selling points and this would carry less weight if the island continues to decline in its rankings.

A useful feature of the GCI is that it allows for benchmarking against other economies and is a good tool for identifying best practices. Singapore, a small island developing state, currently ranks second place overall on the index and there may be some areas in which Barbados can learn from the reforms they have made. Besides Singapore, we can examine another top 50-rated SIDS, Mauritius, to see what best practices we can consider. We may also be able to learn from the Dominican Republic and Jamaica which, while ranked below us, saw improvements in their rankings.We have strong rankings in our technological and infrastructure capacity. Let us build on these strengths by improving the incorporation of ICTs for improving the ease of doing business and reducing some of the inefficiencies.

Perhaps the best utility of the GCI is that it provides empirical evidence for identifying policy priorities as countries craft and evaluate their national competitiveness policies. As any eager pupil would, Barbados should take these findings to heart. Several competitiveness reforms have been on-going aimed at tackling some of the weaknesses which the GCI 2016 has again brought to light. For example, the $50 million fund for SMEs announced in the August budget should assist SMEs’ access to finance. The island also received a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank for competitiveness improvement called the Barbados Competitiveness Programme. These are good strides. However, if Barbados wants an A-grade and to be truly at the top of the global class, the island needs to quicken and deepen the pace of its competitiveness reforms, strengthening those things it is good at, working on those which it is not, while also putting mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of their performance.

Nonetheless, the responsibility for ensuring long-term and sustainable competitiveness does not rest with government alone but requires strong collaboration, honest dialogue and feedback among all national stakeholders, including for instance, through the social partnership.

Private sector involvement is key for ensuring Barbados’ obtains a score card each year. A few years ago, I was part of the survey team which administered the WEF Executive Opinion Survey in Barbados, the main instrument used for gathering the data utilised in a whole suite of WEF reports, including the Global Competitiveness Report. While in each instance our team was able to meet our quota, the biggest challenge we found was the unwillingness of some business executives either to participate in the survey, or to complete it satisfactorily and in a timely manner. If insufficient businesses complete the survey, the country will not be included in the index. To encourage greater private sector participation in the survey, I suggest there be closer collaboration between the country partner institute and the various private sector bodies in the country.

 Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.

Ranking Caribbean Countries’ Competitiveness: WEF Global Competitiveness Index 2016-2017

Posted on by Leave a comment

business-561388_960_720Alicia Nicholls

A few days ago, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released its Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017. Two things immediately struck me as I perused the list of 138 economies which made the GCI 2016. The first was that because of data shortages only 4 Caribbean countries (Barbados, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Trinidad & Tobago in order of rank) were included in this year’s index. The second was that all four of these economies were in the bottom 50 per cent of the survey sample, with the highest ranked (Barbados) at only 72nd place.

The WEF in its Global Competitiveness Report defines competitiveness as “the set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of an economy which in turn sets the level of prosperity that the country can achieve”.The GCI’s 114 indicators are grouped into 12 pillars which are further grouped into 3 sub-indices.  Collectively they measure an economy’s performance on a variety of concepts which impact on productivity and prosperity. Some of these include basic requirements such as institutions, infrastructure and macroeconomic environment to more sophisticated indicators dealing with business sophistication and innovation.

In the preface to this year’s report, the World Economic Forum team highlighted that “many of the competitiveness challenges we see today stem from the aftermath of the financial crisis”.  Productivity and GDP growth in advanced economies and increasingly emerging economies remain subdued. This equally applies to Caribbean countries whose small open economies enhanced their vulnerability to the effects of global financial and economic crisis of 2008, and face many competitiveness disadvantages inherent in their smallness. However, not all of the region’s competitiveness challenges are structural and many are within our power to address.

Caribbean Countries’ WEF GCI Performance 2016-2017

So how did the region fare on the GCI this time around?  Barbados, whose economic recovery remains fragile, topped the CARIFORUM rankings with a rank of 72. Due to data shortages, the island had not been included in the 2015-2016 index but has dropped several places since its rank of 55 out of 144 economies on the 2014-2015 index.

Barbados commendably tops the Latin America and Caribbean region in infrastructure, labour market efficiency and technology. However, the island’s most problematic factors for doing business are as follows: poor work ethic in national labour force, inefficient government bureaucracy, tax rates, restrictive labour regulations and access to financing. Unlike the other three Caribbean economies included, corruption was not seen as a major problem in Barbados.

Trinidad & Tobago, which is currently in recession, has also lost ground, ranking 94 out of 138 economies in 2016-2017, compared to 89 out 140 in 2015-2016. The top 5 problem areas for Trinidad & Tobago for doing business were poor work ethic in national labour force, corruption, inefficient government bureaucracy, crime and theft and foreign currency regulations. But there is a silver lining. The WEF GCI identifies three stages of development: Stage 1 (Factor-driven), Stage 2 (Efficiency-driven) and Stage 3 (Innovation-driven). Trinidad was the only Caribbean country listed as a stage 3 economy (innovation-driven). Barbados was ranked as transitioning between stages 2 and 3. Jamaica and the Dominican Republic were classified as stage 2.

Some more good news is that Jamaica saw forward movement on the index, moving to 75 out of 138 in 2016-2017 from 86 out of 140 in 2015-2016, as well as the Dominican Republic which ranked 92 out of 138 countries in 2016-2017 compared to 98 out of 140 countries in 2015-2016. The Dominican Republic’s reforms were mentioned in the report.

Importance of Country Competitiveness Indices

The WEF GCI is the most comprehensive benchmark of national competitiveness of economies worldwide. This year’s index comprised 98% of the global economy. It is, therefore, quite disappointing that not only does no Caribbean country currently rank among the top 50, but that so few Caribbean countries are included in the 2016-2017 index compared to previous indices as a result of data shortages.

These rankings are important for several reasons.The GCI is a useful tool for policy makers not only  for benchmarking the economy’s current performance  across over 100 competitiveness indicators against its historical performance, but also against other economies in the same bracket. As such, it provides good empirical evidence for setting policy priorities and interventions as national competitiveness strategies are crafted and refined.

Secondly, and importantly for small economies which depend significantly on foreign direct investment inflows, the WEF GCI is one of several indices, along with the World Bank’s Doing Business Index, which discerning investors consult when considering potential investment locations. For this reason, it is not uncommon for investment promotion agencies to reference their country’s favourable performance on these indices when marketing to prospective investors.

The Way Forward

It is axiomatic for any economy that  competitiveness should not only be long-term but sustainable. What the current WEF GCI makes clear is that economies in the Caribbean region have a lot of room for improvement, particularly in these problem areas: inefficient government bureaucracy, work ethic in the national labor force and corruption. Improving our competitiveness, however, is not a government responsibility alone. It requires continued strategic and enhanced  public-private sector collaboration and partnership.

Governments, the private sector and other stakeholders including trade unions and other civil society actors, therefore, need to closely examine the causes and solutions for these problematic areas. For example, what are the factors which contribute to the perception of “poor work ethic”? What country-level and firm-level productivity enhancing reforms are working and which need revising or implementing? What can we do improve the vexing issue of “inefficient government bureaucracy”? This year’s Global Competitiveness Report focused heavily on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. What role can ICTs play in improving our weak areas?

We can also take lessons from those economies which consistently rank as the most competitive economies and those which saw tremendous improvement. The top five economies in this year’s GCI were in order of ranking: Switzerland, Singapore, United States, Netherlands and Germany. What best practices can we learn from these countries? How about those countries like India, which made the biggest leap of any country in this year’s index by climbing 16 places? Or Mauritius, a SIDS, ranks 45th , having climbed two places? Even our own Jamaica and the Dominican Republic which saw improved rankings may hold valuable lessons.

Businesses also need to play their part. It is unacceptable that the region is so poorly represented on the GCI year after year. A few years ago, I was part of the survey team which administered the WEF  Executive Opinion Survey in Barbados, the main instrument used for gathering the data utilised in a whole suite of WEF reports, including the Global Competitiveness Report. While in each instance our team was able to meet our quota, one of the challenges we found was the unwillingness of some business executives either to participate in the survey, or to complete it properly and in a timely manner. This is after repeated attempts to impress upon them the importance of the data collected in the survey for judging Barbados’ competitiveness and to ensuring Barbados was ranked on this important index. If insufficient businesses answer the survey, the country will not be included in the index. To encourage greater private sector participation in the survey in each country, I suggest there be closer collaboration between the country partner institutes and the various private sector bodies in the countries.

The full WEF GCI 2016-2017 Report may be accessed here.

 Alicia Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is a trade and development consultant with a keen interest in sustainable development, international law and trade. You can also read more of her commentaries and follow her on Twitter @LicyLaw.

Barbados’ Upcoming CFATF Mutual Evaluation: What’s at stake?

Posted on by Leave a comment

Alicia Nicholls

A robust regime for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) is critical for the integrity and stability of a jurisdiction’s financial sector. This is doubly critical in Barbados where the international business and financial services sector is the second largest foreign exchange earner. Any perceived gaps in Barbados’ AML/CFT framework could sully its international reputation as a place for doing legitimate business, with repercussions for local employment, foreign exchange inflows and tax earnings.

Barbados will shortly undergo its 4th Mutual Evaluation by the Trinidad-based Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), the Caribbean regional associate member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). An intergovernmental body established in 1989, the FATF is the international standard-setter for AML/CFT and combatting the financing of proliferation. Last revised in February 2012, the FATF’s 40 recommendations plus its 9 special recommendations on Terrorist Financing and the Interpretive Notes are the internationally accepted standards for AML/CFT.

Read more of my article at the Broad Street Street Journal here.

« Older Entries