Caribbean Emergency Legislation Project: improving the legal and institutional framework related to state of emergency

Over time, the Caribbean region has been faced with frequent occurrences of hurricanes, floods,
landslides and volcanoes, which have repeatedly affected its fragile islands on a major scale. Conscious of
the need to more strategically prepare for these disasters, the OAS-DSD has initiated this project to
examine the existing legal, institutional and budgetary frameworks to improve responsiveness, to ensure
the adequacy of resources in the event of these occurrences and to promote disaster loss reduction1
.

Natural disasters produce an enormous impact on the environment and society. The problems brought
about by these disasters cannot be solved easily, however, for even fully industrialized nations with long
years of coping with earthquakes, floods, typhoons, volcanoes and other types of natural perils are still
threatened by natural disaster risks2
. In small islands and coastal regions, ecosystems are small and
closely linked, coastal zones are impacted by upper watershed activities and most resources are subjected
to frequent—and often conflicting—exploitation. It is therefore essential to approach management from
an integrated perspective. Small developing Caribbean countries have established several legislative and
institutional structures to address particular aspects of disaster management, but their comprehensiveness
and inadequacy in handling the oft-times crippling after-effects are a cause of urgent concern.

This OAS-DSD/World Bank “Caribbean Emergency Legislation Project” (CELP) was formulated to
respond to the lack of relevant state of emergency legislation and institutional framework capable of
mobilizing executive powers in the aftermath of a disaster. The CELP aims to raise awareness among
government decision-makers and provide recommendations to improve legislative channels and
administrative procedures during and immediately after natural disasters. In conjunction with the ongoing
disaster occurrences in the region, the recent earthquake in Haiti makes the need for reform in this area all
the more critical.

The project conducts a study to improve the legal and institutional frameworks for state of emergency and
budget appropriation powers by proposing the implementation of a set of clear and transparent
procedures. These state of emergency procedures are recommended for the twelve Caribbean countries
participating in the project: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic,
Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and
Trinidad and Tobago. Of these countries, ten are common law jurisdictions, while the Dominican
Republic and the Republic of Haiti are civil law jurisdictions.