Barbados: World՚s Newest Republic Parts Away with Queen YouTube Lecture Handouts

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Barbados: World՚s Newest Republic|Parts Away with Queen|UPSC IAS|GS

Illustration: Barbados: World՚s Newest Republic Parts Away with Queen YouTube Lecture Handouts

Barbados has officially removed Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and become the world՚s newest republic. The new era for Barbados ends Britain՚s centuries of influence, including more than 200 years when the island was a hub for the transatlantic slave trade.

Barbados

  • Barbados announced its plan to become a republic last year, but it will remain within the Commonwealth.
  • Formerly known as the British Commonwealth, the Commonwealth of Nations is a loose association of former British colonies and current dependencies, along with some countries that have no historical ties to Britain.
  • It was one of England՚s first slave colonies. English settlers first occupied the island in 1627 and, under British control, it became a sugar plantation economy using enslaved people brought in from Africa.
  • Slavery was abolished in Barbados in 1834 and the country became fully independent in 1966.
  • Before Barbados, the last nation to remove the Queen as head of state was Mauritius in 1992.
  • With a population of about 285,000 people, Barbados is one of the more populous and prosperous Caribbean islands.
  • Once heavily dependent on sugar exports, its economy has diversified
Illustration: Barbados
  • Barbados announced its plan to become a republic last year, but it will remain within the Commonwealth.
  • Formerly known as the British Commonwealth, the Commonwealth of Nations is a loose association of former British colonies and current dependencies, along with some countries that have no historical ties to Britain.
  • It was one of England՚s first slave colonies. English settlers first occupied the island in 1627 and, under British control, it became a sugar plantation economy using enslaved people brought in from Africa.
  • Slavery was abolished in Barbados in 1834 and the country became fully independent in 1966.
  • Before Barbados, the last nation to remove the Queen as head of state was Mauritius in 1992.
  • With a population of about 285,000 people, Barbados is one of the more populous and prosperous Caribbean islands.
  • Once heavily dependent on sugar exports, its economy has diversified

Dame Sandra Prunella Mason

  • Dame Sandra Prunella Mason, who was selected to become the first president of Barbados last month, took over as the President of the country. At a joint meeting of both the Houses of Parliament of Barbados, Speaker of the House of Assembly Arthur Holder announced the selection of Mason as the President of the country.
  • Mason, 72, has been the governor-general of the island since 2018. After studying at Queen՚s College, Mason completed her judicial education in London followed by a judicial fellowship in Canada.
  • Mason started her career as a teacher and went on to work in the banking sector until 1978. She then began to work as Magistrate of the Juvenile and Family Court in Barbados.
  • Mason served as Chair and Vice-Chair at the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child from 1991 to 1999. She held the position of the Registrar of the Supreme Court until 2005. In 2008, she became the first female to be sworn in as the Court of Appeal Judge of the Supreme Court of Barbados. Mason, in 2014, became the first Barbadian to be a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal (CSAT) and in 2017 she also became the first female president of the Tribunal.

Changes in Republic

Illustration: Changes in Republic
  • There are no plans to change the flags, coat of arms, national pledge or national anthem. However, the terms “royal” and “crown” would be dropped from all official references. Hence, Royal Barbados Police Force will become Barbados Police Force and crown lands would become state lands.
  • In 1979, the Cox Commission to attest to the feasibility of the republican system in Barbados was set up. The commission, however, had concluded that the public wished to remain under the system of constitutional monarchy.
  • In 1998, a constitutional committee had recommended that the country adopt the republican status and end the monarchy. In 2003, Barbados changed its final court of appeal from the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to the Caribbean Court of Justice.
  • On the 50th Independence Day in 2016, Freundel Stuart, the then prime minister of Barbados, had said that it was time to move from “a monarchical system to a republican form of government” .

Exports

Illustration: Exports
  • Barbados is host to four species of nesting turtles (green turtles, loggerheads, hawksbill turtles, and leatherbacks) and has the second-largest hawksbill turtle-breeding population in the Caribbean
  • As a coral-limestone island, Barbados is highly permeable to seepage of surface water into the earth.
  • World՚s most densely populated isles
  • Barbados is the 52nd richest country in the world in terms of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita, has a well-developed mixed economy, and a moderately high standard of living. According to the World Bank, Barbados is one of 83 high income economies in the world
  • Rubgy is popular sports along with horse racing, football, polo
  • Close to 100% literacy

Manishika