Barbados

total:

0.09 cu km/yr (33%/44%/22%)

per capita:

333 cu m/yr (2000)

• pollution of coastal waters from waste disposal by ships;
• soil erosion;
• illegal solid waste disposal threatens contamination of aquifers

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

noun:

Barbadian(s) or Bajan (colloquial)

adjective:

Barbadian or Bajan (colloquial)

at birth:

1.013 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.97 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.64 male(s)/female

total population:

0.94 male(s)/female (2011 est.)

conventional long form:

none

conventional short form:

Barbados

name:

Bridgetown

geographic coordinates:

13 06 N, 59 37 W

time difference:

UTC-4 (1 hour ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

chief of state:

Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); represented by acting Governor General Elliot BELGRAVE (since 1 November 2011)

head of government:

Prime Minister Fruendel STUART (since 23 October 2010)

cabinet:

Cabinet appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister; (For more information visit theWorld Leaders website)

elections:

• the monarchy is hereditary;
• governor general appointed by the monarch;
• following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the governor general;
• the prime minister recommends the deputy prime minister

• Supreme Court of Judicature consists of a High Court and a Court of Appeal (judges are appointed by the Service Commissions for the Judicial and Legal Services);
• Caribbean Court of Justice or CCJ is the highest court of appeal;
• based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

• Barbados Labor Party or BLP [Owen ARTHUR];
• Democratic Labor Party or DLP [Freundel STUART];
• People's Empowerment Party or PEP [David COMISSIONG]

• Barbados Secondary Teachers' Union or BSTU [Patrick FROST];
• Barbados Union of Teachers or BUT [Herbert GITTENS];
• Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados or CTUSAB, (includes the BWU, NUPW, BUT, and BSTU) [Leroy TROTMAN];
• Barbados Workers Union or BWU [Leroy TROTMAN];
• Clement Payne Labor Union [David COMISSIONG];
• National Union of Public Workers [Joseph GODDARD]

chief of mission:

Ambassador John BEALE

chancery:

2144 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 939-9200

FAX:

[1] (202) 332-7467

consulate(s) general:

Miami, New York

consulate(s):

Los Angeles

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge d' Affaires D. Brent HARDT

embassy:

U.S. Embassy, Wildey Business Park, Wildey, St. Michael BB 14006

mailing address:

P. O. Box 302, Bridgetown BB 11000; CMR 1014, APO AA 34055

telephone:

[1] (246) 227-4399

FAX:

[1] (246) 431-0179

• three equal vertical bands of blue (hoist side), gold, and blue with the head of a black trident centered on the gold band;
• the band colors represent the blue of the sea and sky and the gold of the beaches;
• the trident head represents independence and a break with the past (the colonial coat of arms contained a complete trident)

name:

"The National Anthem of Barbados"

lyrics/music:

Irving BURGIE/C. Van Roland EDWARDS

note: adopted 1966; the anthem is also known as "In Plenty and In Time of Need"

agriculture:

10%

industry:

15%

services:

75% (1996 est.)

lowest 10%:

NA%

highest 10%:

NA%

general assessment:

island-wide automatic telephone system

domestic:

fixed-line teledensity of roughly 50 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone density approaching 125 per 100 persons

international:

• country code - 1-246;
• landing point for the East Caribbean Fiber System (ECFS) submarine cable with links to 13 other islands in the eastern Caribbean extending from the British Virgin Islands to Trinidad;
• satellite earth stations - 1 (Intelsat -Atlantic Ocean);
• tropospheric scatter to Trinidad and Saint Lucia (2010)

• government-owned Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) operates the lone terrestrial television station;
• CBC also operates a multi-channel cable TV subscription service;
• roughly a dozen radio stations, consisting of a CBC-operated network alongside privately-owned radio stations, in operation (2007)

• gas 33 km;
• oil 62 km;
• refined products 4 km

total:

1,600 km

country comparison to the world: 176

paved:

1,600 km (2004)

males age 16-49:

73,820

females age 16-49:

73,835 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

58,125

females age 16-49:

58,016 (2010 est.)

male:

1,842

female:

1,849 (2010 est.)

• the Royal Barbados Defense Force includes a land-based Troop Command and a small Coast Guard;
• the primary role of the land element is to defend the island against external aggression;
• the Command consists of a single, part-time battalion with a small regular cadre that is deployed throughout the island;
• it increasingly supports the police in patrolling the coastline to prevent smuggling and other illicit activities (2007)

• Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago abide by the April 2006 Permanent Court of Arbitration decision delimiting a maritime boundary and limiting catches of flying fish in Trinidad and Tobago's exclusive economic zone;
• joins other Caribbean states to counter Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a criterion under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which permits Venezuela to extend its EEZ/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea

current situation:

Barbados is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List - the Government of Barbados does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• the main obstacles to anti-trafficking progress in Barbados were the new legislation's failure to criminalize all forms of trafficking in persons, the government's absence of formal procedures to guide officials in victim identification and assistance, and the absence of a formal mechanism to coordinate government and NGO actions on trafficking issues (2011)