CARICOM Heads meeting in Jamaica yesterday said that member states which have not yet ratified or acceded to the International Criminal Court (ICC) will do so expeditiously and they said they were “deeply disturbed” over punitive action by the US against six countries because they had ratified the ICC.

In what is being seen as a stinging rebuke to the United States, the heads in a statement issued in Montego Bay at their summit said they “were deeply disturbed at the punitive action taken by the US government, with effect from July 1st, 2003, against the six CARICOM member states which are parties to the International Criminal Court. They stressed that this development was at complete variance with the spirit of the special relationship which has traditionally existed between the United States and the Caribbean”.

In a bid to sidestep the ICC which it has refused to sign on to, the United States has been signing bilateral treaties with a number of countries to grant its servicemen immunity from prosecution in the tribunal. Washington had approached CARICOM countries to sign such agreements and the matter has been engaging the attention of the heads and other regional officials over the last few months.

July 1 was the deadline set by the United States for immunity agreements to be signed with it and when this date passed it cut off military aid to 35 countries including six CARICOM states: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. Other CARICOM states did not suffer this fate as they had either not acceded to the treaty or not ratified it.

Heads in their statement yesterday reaffirmed their support for the ICC saying they strongly backed “the principles and purposes of the ICC and their confidence that it would carry out its important mandate with the highest integrity and professionalism”.

The heads adverted to the seminal role played by Trinidad - one of the countries slapped with sanctions - in the setting up of the ICC. The heads then noted with satisfaction that those countries yet to ratify or accede to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC would do so expeditiously.

In what was seen as a placatory measure and to ease the concerns of some CARICOM states, the heads also agreed that “some Member States may wish to negotiate bilateral `non-surrender’ agreements with the United States if they are advised by their legal authorities that any agreement into which they enter is consistent with their obligations under the Rome Statute”.

The heads also stressed that the effective protection of the so-called `Third Border’ of the United States could not be achieved “unilaterally, and that continued military and security cooperation between the Caribbean and the United States was in the national security interest of all countries which comprise our common Caribbean neighbourhood”.

Further, the heads resolved to explore the option of setting up mutual legal arrangements on military matters among member states and to seek partnerships in the international community to protect and bolster the security of CARICOM.

Guyana is one CARICOM member which has acceded to the ICC agreement but has not yet ratified it. When Stabroek News tried to ascertain when the treaty would be ratified in Parliament it could get no clear answer. Senior Legal Advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rosemarie Cadogan said she was unaware why the treaty had not been ratified and asked this newspaper to contact the Attorney-General’s Chambers. When contacted, Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Doodnauth Singh, told Stabroek News that his office had not been asked by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to advise on ratification and asked that this newspaper speak again with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He said that the ICC treaty had to go to Parliament for ratification and the government had to take a decision to do this.