The aim is to help CARICOM Member States promote, ratify and implement the major instruments of international humanitarian law.

The document was signed by CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington and Guy Mellet, head of the ICRC’s regional delegation covering Venezuela, Surinam and the English-speaking Caribbean countries. The ceremony was witnessed by Charles Sabga, head of the ICRC’s sub-regional delegation in Trinidad and Tobago.

Mr Mellet expressed satisfaction at the move, welcoming CARICOM’s formal recognition of the ICRC’s role in protecting and assisting the victims of armed conflict and internal strife and in promoting international humanitarian law.

He added: "This demonstrates the regional approach to the promotion, implementation and integration of international humanitarian law and its principles in the CARICOM region, and the commitment to include these issues on the agenda of the CARICOM Legal Affairs Committee".

The arrangement will also enable the ICRC and various elements of the CARICOM organization to undertake regular consultations on international humanitarian law.

The ICRC’s regional delegation in Caracas, covering Venezuela, Surinam and the English-speaking Caribbean countries, has been promoting the implementation of IHL in domestic legislation since opening in February 2000.