Regional Security System
Encyclopedia
The Regional Security System (RSS) is an international agreement for the defence and security of the eastern Caribbean
region.
The Regional Security System was created out of a need for collective response to security threats, which were impacting on the stability of the region in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In October 1982 four members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
—namely, Antigua and Barbuda
, Dominica
, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines—signed a memorandum of understanding
(MOU) with Barbados
to provide for “mutual assistance on request”. Saint Kitts and Nevis
joined following independence in 1983, and Grenada
followed two years later, after Operation Urgent Fury, a combined U.S. and RSS invasion of the country. The MOU was updated in 1992 and the system acquired juridical status in March 1996 under the Treaty which was signed at St. Georges, Grenada.
The RSS initially started as a U.S. instrument to combat the spread of Communism in the Caribbean region. As of 2001, the RSS further cooperates with the CARICOM Regional Task Force on Crime and Security (CRTFCS).
In June 2010, the United States of America and Caribbean regional officials resumed a plan for close cooperation established under the former Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean
(PPS) from the Clinton
era. As part of the joint agreement the United States pledged assistance with the creation of an Eastern Caribbean Coast Guard unit among RSS countries. The Coast Guard
unit will underpin the wider US-Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) which has deemed the RSS as "central to the CBSI’s success, given its reach across the Eastern Caribbean."
Subsequently, Canada
also pledged collaboration with the RSS bloc. to combat a threat of Central American criminal gangs from expanding into the English-speaking Caribbean
region.
The current member nations are: (since 1982) (since 1982) (since 1982) (since 1985) (since 1983) (since 1982) (since 1982)
The R.S.S., as it is commonly referred to, is based in Barbados at the Paragon Centre, headed by many regional army chiefs. It mainly serves as a defence system for the Caribbean Sea, conducting many operations by detecting and combating cross-Atlantic and intra-Caribbean drug smuggling, protection of the sovereignty of the nations of the Caribbean, providing assistance to Caribbean countries at the request of governments and are usually the first to respond after natural disasters occur, such as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes.
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
region.
The Regional Security System was created out of a need for collective response to security threats, which were impacting on the stability of the region in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In October 1982 four members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States , created in 1981, is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance between countries and dependencies in the Eastern Caribbean...
—namely, Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands...
, Dominica
Dominica
Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...
, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines—signed a memorandum of understanding
Memorandum of understanding
A memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...
(MOU) with Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
to provide for “mutual assistance on request”. Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Kitts and Nevis
The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis , located in the Leeward Islands, is a federal two-island nation in the West Indies. It is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, in both area and population....
joined following independence in 1983, and Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
followed two years later, after Operation Urgent Fury, a combined U.S. and RSS invasion of the country. The MOU was updated in 1992 and the system acquired juridical status in March 1996 under the Treaty which was signed at St. Georges, Grenada.
The RSS initially started as a U.S. instrument to combat the spread of Communism in the Caribbean region. As of 2001, the RSS further cooperates with the CARICOM Regional Task Force on Crime and Security (CRTFCS).
In June 2010, the United States of America and Caribbean regional officials resumed a plan for close cooperation established under the former Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean
Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean
The Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean is a regional-level dialogue with the stated purpose of providing greater cooperation on security and economic issues...
(PPS) from the Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
era. As part of the joint agreement the United States pledged assistance with the creation of an Eastern Caribbean Coast Guard unit among RSS countries. The Coast Guard
Coast guard
A coast guard or coastguard is a national organization responsible for various services at sea. However the term implies widely different responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to being a volunteer organization tasked with...
unit will underpin the wider US-Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) which has deemed the RSS as "central to the CBSI’s success, given its reach across the Eastern Caribbean."
Subsequently, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
also pledged collaboration with the RSS bloc. to combat a threat of Central American criminal gangs from expanding into the English-speaking Caribbean
Anglophone Caribbean
The term Commonwealth Caribbean is used to refer to the independent English-speaking countries of the Caribbean region. Upon a country's full independence from the United Kingdom, Anglophone Caribbean or Commonwealth Caribbean traditionally becomes the preferred sub-regional term as a replacement...
region.
The current member nations are: (since 1982) (since 1982) (since 1982) (since 1985) (since 1983) (since 1982) (since 1982)
Previous activities
| Date | RSS Operation name | Country | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Grenada Intervention Invasion of Grenada The Invasion of Grenada, codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, was a 1983 United States-led invasion of Grenada, a Caribbean island nation with a population of about 100,000 located north of Venezuela. Triggered by a military coup which had ousted a four-year revolutionary government, the invasion... |
Grenada | Restore a government in Grenada |
| 1989 | Hugo Hurricane Hugo Hurricane Hugo was a classical, destructive and rare Cape Verde-type hurricane which struck the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Montserrat, St. Croix, Puerto Rico and the USA mainland in South Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane during September of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season... |
Antigua, Montserrat and Saint Kitts and Nevis | Assistance in aftermath of Hurricane Hugo |
| 1990 | Coup Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt On Friday 27 July 1990, 114 members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen, an Afro-Trinidadian Islamic organisation, led by Imam Yasin Abu Bakr and Bilaal Abdullah attempted to stage a coup d'état against the government of Trinidad and Tobago. Forty-two insurgents stormed the Red House and took the Prime... |
Trinidad and Tobago | Aftermath of an attempted Coup d'état Coup d'état A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either... in Trinidad and Tobago |
| 1994 | Internal Security | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Prison riot Prison riot A prison riot is an act of concerted defiance or disorder by a group of prisoners against the prison administrators, prison officers, or other groups of prisoners in attempt to force change or express a grievance.... |
| 1995 | Luis Hurricane Luis Hurricane Luis was one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes of the 1995 Atlantic hurricane season, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph . The storm was the twelfth tropical storm, sixth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the season... , Marilyn Hurricane Marilyn Hurricane Marilyn was the fifteenth tropical depression and thirteenth named storm of the unusually busy 1995 Atlantic hurricane season, following closely on the heels of Hurricane Luis. Hurricane Marilyn was the most powerful storm to hit the Virgin Islands since Hurricane Hugo of 1989.Marilyn... |
Antigua and Saint Kitts and Nevis | Assistance in aftermath of Hurricane Luis and Hurricane Marilyn |
| 1998 | Georges Hurricane Georges Hurricane Georges was a very destructive, powerful and long-lived Cape Verde-type Category 4 hurricane. Georges was the seventh tropical storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season... |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | Assistance in aftermath of Hurricane Georges |
| 1998 | Weedeater | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Eradication of Cannabis Cannabis Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a... |
| 2003 | Bordelais | Saint Lucia | Transfer prisoners to new prison facility |
| 2004 | Ivan Relief Efforts Hurricane Ivan Hurricane Ivan was a large, long-lived, Cape Verde-type hurricane that caused widespread damage in the Caribbean and United States. The cyclone was the ninth named storm, the sixth hurricane and the fourth major hurricane of the active 2004 Atlantic hurricane season... |
Grenada | Assistance in aftermath of Hurricane Ivan |
| 2006 | Glendairy Glendairy Prison Glendairy Prison, also called Her Majesty's Prison, was the correctional facility located in the country of Barbados. The prison, which housed up to 1,000 male and female inmates, was located in Station Hill, St. Michael.-History:... |
Barbados | Prison uprising |
| 2009 | Operation VINCYPAC | St Vincent and the Grenadines | Eradicaton of Cannabis |
| 2010 | Haiti Haiti Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island... |
Haiti | Assistance in aftermath of the Haiti 2010 Earthquake |
The R.S.S., as it is commonly referred to, is based in Barbados at the Paragon Centre, headed by many regional army chiefs. It mainly serves as a defence system for the Caribbean Sea, conducting many operations by detecting and combating cross-Atlantic and intra-Caribbean drug smuggling, protection of the sovereignty of the nations of the Caribbean, providing assistance to Caribbean countries at the request of governments and are usually the first to respond after natural disasters occur, such as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes.
See also
- Military alliance
- Caribbean Peace ForceCaribbean Peace ForceThe Caribbean Peace Force , also known as the Eastern Caribbean Peace Force , was an OECS mandated 350-member Peacekeeping Force operating in Grenada, from October 1983 to June 1985, after the Invasion of Grenada, codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, by the United States of America and several other...
- Royal Canadian Mounted PoliceRoyal Canadian Mounted PoliceThe Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(RCMP) - United States Southern CommandUnited States Southern CommandThe United States Southern Command , located in Miami, Florida, is one of nine Unified Combatant Commands in the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for providing contingency planning and operations in Central and South America, the Caribbean The United States Southern Command...
(USSOUTHCOM) - Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA)
- Organisation of Eastern Caribbean StatesOrganisation of Eastern Caribbean StatesThe Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States , created in 1981, is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance between countries and dependencies in the Eastern Caribbean...
(OECS)
External links
- Official website - Regional Security System
- Operations carried out by the RSS