Honourable CARICOM state ministries and heads of government,

We, concerned citizens of the Caribbean, express our outrage at CARICOM’s continued pattern of empty statements while the genocide in Gaza unfolds in full view of the world.

Your recent statement dated on 11, July 2025 calling for a “sustained ceasefire” is woefully inadequate. We are no longer in a time where passive diplomacy is morally or legally acceptable. The International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and global human rights bodies have made it clear: Israel is committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Palestinians are also facing violent attacks and displacement from their homes and farms and the destruction of their property by “settlers” and the Israeli military in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

We the undersigned call on Honourable Heads of CARICOM to:

1. Sever diplomatic and economic ties with Israel

2. In line with international legal obligations, impose targeted, lawful sanctions on Israel, including comprehensive military embargoes, and prohibit selling flags to vessels carrying arms, dual-use items or other military equipment to Israel, given that these would contribute to Israel’s atrocities and crimes against humanity. In this regard, we congratulate the Government of Antigua and Barbuda for taking action and issuing a prohibition directive with consequences. However, after the vessel went dark it was confirmed to have delivered 10 tons of military explosives on 4th June to Israel, using an Antigua and Barbuda flag. Antigua and Barbuda must stand by their directive and hold the company accountable under international law. We deem the government of Antigua
and Barbuda complicit in the genocide for contrary to the Genocide Convention, which forbids supplying of arms "where there is a substantial risk" a party will commit war crimes-precisely what's happening in Gaza.

3. Cancel visa waiver programmes as other states have done and install proper checks on Israeli passport holders to CARICOM states. Almost all CARICOM member states allow Israeli citizens to enter visa free to their country. The Immigration Departments, through the appropriate procedures, must deny a visa to, and if found to be in the member state deport, any visitor with links to the ongoing genocide, war crimes, or crime against humanity in Gaza, regardless of diplomatic status.

4. We urge you to support the principled stance taken by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines following the Hague meeting on 15 June. They have adopted the following measures: a full embargo on weapons to Israel, refusal to dock ships carrying arms to Israel, termination of contracts supporting the occupation, and support for prosecuting Israeli war criminals.

5. End all cooperation, training, or intelligence-sharing with Israeli military or security services across all ministries, police forces, and intelligence bodies and ensure that no company -state or private- registered in a CARICOM member state is engaged in trading with or has other economic or financial dealing with the state of Israel or Israeli companies. Ban the importation, integration, or use of Israeli military or dual-use security technology-including ELTA Systems, Rafael, Elbit, and NSO Group-from all government and law enforcement operations and immediately suspend all cyber-security or surveillance contracts with Israeli defense-linked companies.

6. Suspend all sporting and cultural relations with Israel as was done with apartheid South Africa.

7. CARICOM endorse and openly support accountability measures against Israel at international courts, including South Africa’s case against Israel under the Genocide Convention before the International Court of Justice (ICJ); and the case against Israel and several of its leaders at the International Criminal Court.

8. Following the ruling of the ICJ on the “Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”, immediately end all other forms of complicity with Israel’s illegal military occupation, its ever more brutal genocide in Gaza, and the root cause of all this - Israel’s 77-year-old regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid - and work within the UN General Assembly to re-activate the UN Special Committee against Apartheid to help eradicate Israel’s regime of apartheid and hold those responsible accountable.

9. Support the expulsion of Israel from international fora including the UNGA and other UN organs, the Olympics, FIFA having regard to the unequivocal judgments of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice with respect to Israel’s violations of international laws.

Failure to uphold these obligations renders our governments complicit-not neutral-and signals the erosion of international justice from within our own region.

If CARICOM fails to act, your governments will:
● Be further complicit in a genocide declared illegal under treaties you have ratified;
● Lose moral credibility on matters of sovereignty, Black liberation, and human rights; Face public outrage and reputational consequences from citizens who no longer accept neutrality as an option.

The Caribbean once stood against apartheid in South Africa. The Caribbean now demands reparations for historic acts of sustained genocide and erasure. Today, the Palestinian people face not only apartheid, but mass starvation, bombardment, and erasure. CARICOM cannot pick and choose when and how it acts in justice: the Caribbean must not betray its legacy of resistance and dignity.

- The Caribbean nations bear the painful legacy of enslavement, oppression, and colonialism. Our history, marked by the violent subjugation of our ancestors, demands that we stand against any form of injustice, apartheid, settler-colonialism and genocide. 
-Other Caribbean, Central and South American countries such as Belize, Chile, Honduras, Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia have recalled their ambassadors to Israel or severed ties altogether.
-As citizens, we are responsible to hold our governments accountable to uphold international law and human rights anywhere in the world.
- Continued diplomatic and economic relationship with Israel implies that Caribbean nations approve Israel’s actions, contradicting the Caribbean nations commitment to international law and human rights.
-Growing public sentiments show an eagerness for justice and equality for Palestinians.

We demand your public response. The time for symbolic language has passed. Our Caribbean people are watching, organizing, and refusing to be silenced.

THIS CALL IS FURTHER SUPPORTED BY THE FOLLOWING EVIDENCE:

-The UN Special Committee and Amnesty International have determined Israel’s warfare methods in Gaza consistent with genocide by intentionally causing death, serious injury, using starvation as a weapon of war and inflicting collective punishment on Palestinians. 
- On July 10, 2024, According to The Lancet- peer reviewed medical journal- their conservative estimate of those horrifically killed in Gaza is 186,000 or more. In Gaza, there are hundreds of thousands injured, tens of thousands missing, millions displaced and starving.
- On November 8, 2024, the U.N. Human Rights Office reported that Israel has killed more 5–9-year-olds in Gaza than any other age group, the 10-14 age group had the second-highest number of deaths, followed by the 0-4 age group. 80% of those killed died in civilian homes and that 70% of them were women and children.
-The United Nations has documented numerous illegal violations by Israel, including war crimes. After careful review and research, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have all called Israel an apartheid state.
-Since October 7th, in the occupied West Bank, Israel has caused the horrifying deaths and injuries of thousands. There has also been record high numbers of Israeli settler attacks and violence without consequences.

Signed,
Concerned citizens of Caribbean nations

Please sign and stand with us to ensure that our governments uphold justice, human dignity, and the principles of international law.

Sources:
1. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/11/un-special-committee-finds-israels-warfare-methods-gaza-consistent-genocide
2. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/
3. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/
4. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/05/does-israels-treatment-palestinians-rise-level-apartheid
5. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/07/experts-hail-icj-declaration-illegality-israels-presence-occupied#:~:text=Related
6. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext
7. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
8. Palestinian Ministry of Health in the occupied West Bank- Live tracker: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker