CHOGM 2025: A Reckoning in the Caribbean

 


Antigua and Barbuda hosts a summit of contradictions, courage, and calls for change

Republicanism: The Quiet Exodus

The Commonwealth realms — 15 nations where King Charles III remains Head of State — are shrinking. Since Barbados became a republic in 2021, momentum has grown:

  • Jamaica: Referendum expected in 2025–26

  • Belize, Antigua & Barbuda, St Kitts & Nevis: Constitutional reviews underway

  • Solomon Islands: Debates reignited post-election

“We are moving on,” said Jamaica’s PM Andrew Holness in 2022. The monarchy’s symbolic role is increasingly seen as anachronistic, especially in nations grappling with colonial legacies.

Slavery Reparations: From Rhetoric to Legal Action

The Caricom Reparations Commission and civil society groups are intensifying pressure:

  • Jamaica submitted a petition to King Charles III asking the Privy Council to rule on Britain’s legal obligations for slavery-era harms

  • CHOGM 2024 in Samoa acknowledged calls for reparatory justice; CHOGM 2025 may go further

  • UK institutions like the Church of England and University of Glasgow have pledged funds, but critics call them insufficient

A UN judge estimated the UK may owe £18 trillion in reparations to Caribbean nations: 5x UK 21C annual GDP - yet no Treasury forecasts?

Hurricanes & Climate Resilience

The Caribbean faces existential threats from climate change:

  • Haiti: Over 1.3 million displaced by violence and climate shocks

  • Samoa’s CHOGM 2024 adopted the Apia Commonwealth Ocean Declaration

  • Antigua’s CHOGM 2025 is expected to push for:

    • Loss and damage finance

    • Debt relief for climate-vulnerable states

    • Green investment frameworks

 “A single storm could push millions into catastrophe,” warns the World Food Programme: Commw navies/military reform and readiness?

Haiti & Cuba: Embargoes and Collapse

Haiti

  • Gangs control 90% of Port-au-Prince; state collapse is imminent

  • UN-backed MSS mission is underfunded and understaffed

  • Drone warfare and private contractors raise legal and ethical concerns

  • CHOGM 2025 may debate:

    • Expanding UN support - Commw/Gurkha Brigade?

    • Arms embargo enforcement

    • Humanitarian corridors

Cuba

  • The US embargo continues to isolate Cuba, with spill-over effects on:

    • Haiti’s fuel and food supply chains

    • Regional trade and disaster coordination

  • Commonwealth members may call for reassessment of USA's unilateral sanctions that hinder development

Puerto Rico: The Forgotten Commonwealth

  • July 25, 2025 marks Constitution Day, commemorating its 1952 status as a US Commonwealth

  • Yet Puerto Rico remains:

    • Excluded from CHOGM

    • Denied voting rights in US federal elections

    • Burdened by debt and hurricane recovery

Puerto Rico’s ambiguous status raises questions about Commonwealth inclusion criteria and post-colonial equity. And wider colonial debate with USA Virgin islands/Greenland and Denmark plus last few Dutch/French/UK colonies.

Tax Havens: The Commonwealth’s Dirty Secret

  • British Overseas Territories like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and BVI remain major tax havens

  • UK Labour government (2025) pledged to end secrecy and enforce transparency deadlines - yet several territories eg BVI missing their transparency deadlines. Fines/sanctions due?

  • CHOGM 2025 may see calls to:

    • Blacklist non-compliant jurisdictions

    • Support UN-led tax reform

    • Redirect illicit flows toward development finance

An estimated $11 trillion is held offshore globally — much of it in Commonwealth-linked havens: an offset of slavery reparations?

Final Thought

CHOGM 2025 is not just a summit — it’s a mirror. It reflects the Commonwealth’s unresolved tensions: monarchy vs republic, past vs future, secrecy vs justice. If Antigua’s hosting is to be more than ceremonial, it must catalyse real reform.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Policy #5: Development not Over-Development

As MP I will halt the development boom of Concrete Kent in Thanet. We are overbuilding far beyond South East targets as mere property speculation for the construction industry. I will insist construction is refocused on renovating both public housing and empty properties: over 3,000 empty properties in Thanet - for years - before one brick is laid on new build. The idea of a 4th Town at Westwood Cross should also be ripped up as property and Planning overkill given vacant properties, an ageing population and a failed economy. And on prime farmland when Climate Change is a major issue and Food Security in preserving our farmland to reduce food imports. And of course major derelict brownfield sites such as Manston airport, Richboro: derelict longer than in operation, and many more. Councils are notorious for being focused on property and construction where the main parties get their kickbacks for handing out Planning permissions. Far greater scrutiny of the Planning system is required. A...
Read more

David Cockburn KCC: Parkway and council corruption

(email to David Cockburn KCC CEO 3/3/21 cc Parliament etc as below) Hi David I and others were surprised at an access road for Kent Parkway rail station planned for 15th March without notice/consultation. As you know from KCC's own research the Parkway was overwhelmingly rejected by the public and councillors. And any rail improvements were less than 90 seconds or so(!). Yes, seconds. It seems a massive KCC civil servant white elephant tarmac scheme again: £20M in Whitehall funds were spent on documents? And is it a leftover of the secret KCC attempts to develop Manston as London International airport with KCC quango funds for the Virginia flights that bellyflopped and resulted in the sacking of your predecessor? Can you halt any works at the site for a call-in review and please provide FOI/EIR documents/emails etc of costs/plans etc of this utterly ludicrous project. For clarity the East Kent aquifer for drinking water for 150k people is under the Manston/Parkway r...
Read more

Tobias MP and Yellow Peril 2.0 for China and 77th Brigade?

The Tobias Ellwood MP article in last week’s Mail on Sunday (and a full page no less) was chilling for several reasons. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7592503/TOBIAS-ELLWOOD-China-winning-war-West-cyber-space-dark-moon.html The blaring headline of: "From cyber space to the dark side of the moon, China is waging war on the West - and it’s winning" is concerning not just for Pink Floyd fans worried that China’s counterfeit music industry extended from their back catalogue to the Moon itself. But also that a former Defence Minister was peddling such Yellow Peril 2.0 nonsense in the 21st century. And all the more concerning with Tobias not just as a Colonel Blimp eccentric MP hyping up the military and its tax budgets, but somehow extending a minor captaincy in the Army into a Lieutenant-Colonel role in the 77th Brigade, the military psyops function. No doubt Bill Cash MP or the fightin’ bank manager reservist Mark Francois MP, or Nigel Farage already...
Read more