A Time for Action -
The Charter of Civil Society - 2

The Charter of Civil Society has many provisions which concur with principles espoused by Civil Society including democracy, individual rights, justice, freedom and participation. The Preamble begins:

"We the people of the Caribbean Community, acting through the assembled representatives of our governments."

DETERMINED:

• to create a truly participatory political environment within the Caribbean Community which will be propitious to genuine consultation in the process of governance;
• to promote economic growth and sustainable development through the wise use of the human and natural resources;
• to enter the Twenty-First Century on the basis of the best possible governance and to achieve and sustain such governance by mobilising action for change;

DECLARE our resolve to pay due regard to the following principles by which our Governments commit themselves to respect and strengthen the fundamental elements of a civil society:

The importance of the Charter is encapsulated in the above extracts from the preamble. We should take guidance from the first sentence since the Government is ascertaining, ":We the people of the Caribbean Community, acting through the assembled representatives of our governments"; makes the Charter a serious commitment to Civil Society by our government which is a signatory to the Charter, to institutionalise Civil Society.

In seeking answers to the question, "whose responsibility it is to institutionalise civil society?" it would seem that whoever is controlling the strings of institutionalization should have that responsibility. Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are already fulfilling their role and responsibilities to the people of Barbados by the very work they do, given their limited resources.

Under the CSME, Civil Society relations with government are projected to be an extension of the primary role which CSOs are now playing. Essentially, the requirement under the CSME is for governments to consult with their people on a national development plan which in turn should inform a regional development plan.

To institutionalise Civil Society from a national perspective would mean: establishing a point of communication; a system of on-going national consultations by sectors; a system of selecting Civil Society leaders to sit on Boards, Committees and Corporations of Government and to form part of Government delegations.

So when Governments declare their resolve to pay due regard to the Charter and to respect and strengthen the fundamental elements of Civil Society, it is with the recognition that an institutionalised Civil Society is capable of helping them to build a just society.

We have already entered the twenty first century and the vision of the Preamble to enter it on the basis of the best possible governance has not been realised. This makes the criticism that the Charter was not extracted by the people a valid one, because if it had been so extracted, the Charter would have been in effect from the day it was signed.

Why with such a strongly worded commitment has the Charter not been implemented? Is it because the gathering of intellectuals that framed it was not representative of the people of the Caribbean ? Is it that Governments do not have the confidence that the framers are in touch with the views and ways of the common man?

Further questions follow: Why sign a document if you have no faith in it? Can a government affix signatures to a document in jest? To what extent was the signing ceremony legitimate enough for the Charter to be binding? To what extent can a government argue that they made a mistake?

Even if all the above were true, why didn't each member state of the Caribbean Community bring the Charter to the people, given the extent of the commitment they put their signatures to? When we compare our movement with the European Union there is no doubt that the Charter gives us an edge so what is the hesitancy to implement it?

Given the lack of action, one can therefore argue that the Charter may have been seen as a required document, designed to uplift the status of the Caribbean Community and more specifically an exercise designed to display intellectual integrity and establish the existence of political and sociological thinkers in "Nazareth", a place where it is thought that there ought to be none.

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