Attorneys General push for Caribbean court
On yesterday’s newscast we reported on the intention of Jamaica’s bar association to oppose any plans its government may have to join the proposed Caribbean Court of Justice. But while the Jamaicans are having problems with the court, Attorneys General in the Eastern Caribbean are praising it. At a press conference held in Barbados, the Court’s advocates updated the media on why it’s time to move forward.
David Simmons, Chairman, Preparatory Committee, CCJ
“In our draft document, we are recommending for the signature of the heads an arrangement whereby all of the judges except the president of the court will be appointed by a broad based Regional Judicial Legal Service Commission. That Regional Judicial Service Commission will not comprise of any politicians, so that for the appointment of the majority of judges, the process is pretty well tight to exclude any possibility of political influence.”
Petrus Compton, Attorney General, St. Lucia
“If I may add to what the honourable Simmons said, another way in which the court could make a significant difference would be in relation to the cost. Right now to access the Privy Council, it is a tremendous cost, which is why many litigants just fall apart at the stage of the Court of Appeal, because they cannot afford to retain solicitors in London to act on their behalf. Sometimes they have to retain legal council to argue the case in London or pay for legal council from the region to go up to England to stay at hotels to get a podium to do the case and to pay the cost. An itinerant court removes that. You come to St. Lucia, you come to St. Vincent and you hear the case there; so the critical issues of access and I think that the court will also bring a sensitivity that is closer to what we understand and accept in the region than the Lower Lords of the British Council can ever bring and that is very important for shaping our jurisprudence.”
The Caribbean Court of Justice will replace the Privy Council as the region’s final court of appeal and will have original jurisdiction in trade disputes involving the CARICOM single market and economy. The court will cost twenty million U.S. dollars to set up and it’s proponents expect that CARICOM heads of government will sign the final documents by the end of the year.
