Caribbean Commission

A special session of the West Indian Conference convened on July 28, 1959, in St. Thomas, the Virgin Islands, to consider revision of the agreement which established the Caribbean Commission in October 1946. The delegates were welcomed by Mr. John Merwin, Governor of the Virgin Islands, who referred to the proposed revision for the transfer of control to local governments as an exciting new concept which would witness the withdrawal from active membership of the metropolitan powers and the taking over of these functions by the non-self-governing territories and possessions. Before starting deliberations on the successor body, delegates went on record in support of a continuation of regional cooperation in the area through some machinery similar to the Caribbean Commission, the good work of which was unanimously acclaimed. After several days of discussion and working in committees, the Conference accepted a Statute for a new Caribbean Organization to succeed the present Caribbean Commission, agreeing that it should be submitted to the governments concerned. The statute gave the Organization consultative and advisory powers and defined the areas of its concern as being those social, economic, and cultural matters of common interest in the Caribbean area. Eligible for membership were the Republic of France for the Departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, and Martinique; the Netherlands Antilles; Surinam; the Bahamas; British Guiana; British Honduras; British Virgin Islands; the West Indies; Puerto Rico; and the Virgin Islands. The governing body of the new organization would be the Caribbean Council, which would hold annual meetings and to which each member would be entitled to nominate one delegate. The Organization was to come into being after an agreement with the members of the present Caribbean Commission—namely, the governments of France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States—for its establishment had been ratified. Following an offer from the government of Puerto Rico to contribute 44.3 percent of the total budget on the understanding that the new Organization would have its headquarters in that country, the Conference agreed on the following apportionment of costs to cover its proposed budget: France, $50,560; Netherlands Antilles, $24,490; Surinam, $19,750; British Guiana, $11,760; the West Indies, $44,240; Puerto Rico, $140,000; and the Virgin Islands, $25,200. As an interim step designed to facilitate the transition, the Conference recommended that the Commission appoint a working group of experts to examine the problems which would arise from the change-over, and to give its attention as well to the task of formulating guiding principles for the work of the Organization.