C.C.J. to be discussed at CARICOM Conference of Heads
And the regional Caribbean Court of Justice has been ratified by twelve of the fifteen countries that make up CARICOM and with the CARICOM Summit scheduled for tomorrow; the issue of whether the government of Belize will accede to the C.C.J. as the final appellate court comes up for reflection. The University of the West Indies and the Caribbean Law Institute have teamed up for a visit to Belize to sensitize government officials, members of the judiciary, representatives from the Bar Association and the UWI Alumni on this sensitive issue. Professor Winston Anderson and Professor Simeon McIntosh met with Attorney General, Wilfred Elrington earlier this week and according to Anderson, the government of Belize is giving consideration to whether it will accept the C.C.J. as its final court of appeal in place of the Privy Council.
Winston Anderson, Exec. Dir., Caribbean Law Institute Centre
“We’re taking about two main areas of interest. First of all, the technical question as to how we migrate from the privy council and join the C.C.J., what are the constitutional implications of that and how do we address those implications. Secondly, my colleague professor McIntosh will offer a more philosophical justification as to why it is very important that we own our final court of appeal, that we, as a people, are responsible ultimately for the dispensation of justice in our systems.”
Duane Moody
“Why is it that you feel that not only Belize, but other countries are not readily accepting the C.C.J.?”
Winston Anderson
“That’s a very important question and that’s the answer we’re trying to find out by coming to Belize. We can’t offer a ready explanation. For one thing, the countries concerned are already paying for the court. The court is an expensive thing to maintain and together the countries concerned have gone together and they have put up one hundred million US dollars to establish the court, to maintain the court, to pay the judges and so on. The question is why we are not using the institution we are paying for. After all, this is not a political issue, this is an issue which affects all the people in Belize and we want if possible to have complete support from the population for joining the C.C.J.”
Duane Moody
“You have met with the Attorney General of Belize and they are more or less leaning towards going to the C.C.J. Could you confirm that?”
Winston Anderson
“Sure, I can’t of course speak for the attorney general but certainly the impression we had when we spoke with him was that he was completely in favour of the idea of going with the Caribbean Court of Justice. Now, obviously there are constitutional requirements to be fulfilled and even though the government might have the requisite majority in parliament, it may be that they wish to proceed with the support of the opposition which might mean having discussions with the opposition and so on. These things will take some time no doubt but the impression we have certainly is that the attorney general is very much in favour of the C.C.J. I’ve heard reports as well that the prime minister is in favour of the C.C.J.”
CARICOM countries support the C.C.J., but to date, only Barbados and Guyana have accepted the court as its final appellate.
