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support, won international recognition. Barbados
was one of the first countries in the Caribbean to
provide anti-retro-viral drug therapy free of cost
to HIV+ pregnant women.
The BLP also established the Chronic Non-
Communicable Disease Commission to fight the
epidemic of diabetes, hypertension and obesity.
Improvement of the social and economic
conditions for our citizens was accompanied by a
corresponding strengthening of the mechanisms
dedicated to the physical safety and security
of the nation and its people. This included the
creation of the Barbados Defence Force in 1979,
the formation in 1982 of a collective defence
capacity within the Eastern Caribbean, the
Regional Security System (RSS), head-quartered
in Barbados, and its upgrading to a treaty-based
Organization in 1996.
Later on, in 2007, the Barbados Labour Party led
the effort with regional partners to establish the
Joint Regional Communications Centre (JRCC).
This centre is also head-quartered in Barbados
and has enhanced our regional border security
significantly, in a post 9/11 world, by the
provision of Advanced Passenger Information to
our border security agencies. CARICOM became
the first region in the world to access real time
vetting of this information from Interpol.
Domestically, the progressive modernisation
of the Royal Barbados Police Force and its high
level of dedicated professionalism gave Barbados
an enviable reputation within the Caribbean
as a leader in the fight against crime and the
preservation of law and order.
The process of Independence was further built
upon by the termination of our relationship with
the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and
legislation was passed to make the Caribbean
Court of Justice our final Court of Appeal. After
decades of planning, a new Hall of Justice and a
new prison at Dodds were constructed.
Bold steps towards modernisation were
taken with infrastructural projects including
a network of highways, rapid expansion
of access to electricity and water services,
allowing for universal access to these services
and the significant expansion of Barbados’
telecommunications (outside of the realm of
a monopoly) providing access to the world in
real time through attaining one of the highest
internet penetration rates in the Americas.
in 1979 through the passage of the Status of
Children Reform Act and the establishment of the
Commission on the Status of Women. This period
saw bastardy becoming outlawed, equal social
and inheritance rights for all Barbadian children
and a new era of social rights and economic
benefits for Barbadian women.
The Barbados Drug Service, an innovation in its
time, was another remarkable achievement for
a small island developing state and has made an
appreciable difference in the quality and length
of life of many Barbadians who would, otherwise,
have been unable to afford critical medication.
The BLP's comprehensive national response
to the advent of HIV/AIDS with an innovative
programme addressing medical care, public
awareness, education and infra-structural
