00:00Signatories to the Treaty of San Jose are Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, France,
00:06Guatemala, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the United States of America, and most recently,
00:13Trinidad and Tobago.
00:15It came into effect on December 7.
00:17Haiti, Jamaica, the United Kingdom, and Panama have signed on but have not ratified the agreement.
00:23The San Jose Treaty doesn't take away the sovereign rights of a country to accept or
00:27refuse entry by another country.
00:30What it does is set out the terms and conditions whereby law enforcement agencies operate in
00:35each other's waters or airspace while pursuing illicit traffic, minimizing a lot of the bureaucracy
00:41usually associated with such operations.
00:45The treaty reduces instances where foreign vessels are forced to abandon chase while
00:50pursuing vessels or aircraft suspected of illicit activities due to territorial constraints.
00:56It is premised on Article 11 which states, no party shall conduct law enforcement operations
01:03to suppress illicit traffic in the waters or airspace of another party without the authorization
01:09of that other party granted pursuant to this agreement or according to its domestic legal
01:15system.
01:16A request for such operation shall be decided upon expeditiously.
01:21The authorization may be subject to directions and conditions that shall be respected by
01:26the party conducting the operations.
01:30Signatories can outline whether they have extended the application of the agreement
01:34to some or all of its internal waters directly adjacent to its territorial sea or archipelagic
01:41waters.
01:42Under the treaty, the procedure for boarding and searching suspected vessels, seizure of
01:46items and prosecution of nationals are outlined and it is highlighted that operations are
01:52to be within the parameters of the laws of the receiving country.
01:56Meanwhile, Article 22 outlines the use of force policy where force can be used on vessels
02:02only where there are no other means of resolving the situation.
02:06It must be the minimum reasonably necessary under the circumstances and a warning must
02:11be given before any use of force except in self-defense situations.
02:16Use of force is not permitted against civil aircraft in flight.
02:20TNT and other signatories can request support from each other to assist with monitoring
02:25of their waters and airspace.
02:28If there are disputes between parties, they are to be settled peacefully, including through
02:32mediation and arbitration.
02:35Signatories can withdraw from the treaty at any time, which will take effect 12 months
02:40after the notification of withdrawal is given.
02:43You can access the San Jose Treaty on the U.S. Department of State website under the
02:47Maritime and Air Counter Narcotics Agreement in Caribbean.
02:52Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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