Dear Editor,
Recently, three prominent legal personalities in the Caribbean Community (Caricom) have referred to the need for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to be adopted by all the member states as Caricom’s final Court of Appeal – a step only Barbados and Guyana have so far taken.
Both Dr the Honourable Kenny D Anthony, a former Prime Minister and now the leader of the Opposition in Saint Lucia as well as a former distinguished law lecturer at the University of the West Indies and Mr Colin Williams, the St Vincent and the Grenadines Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), in two different fora, have urged that those countries which have not as yet adopted the CCJ as their court of final jurisdiction, take the necessary steps to complete the process.
Indeed, Dr Anthony expressed puzzlement that “countries which were at the forefront of the decolonization process and anxious to claim their sovereignty” could now find “undisguised comfort in retaining the Privy Council.” Further, the Honourable Attorney-General of Trinidad and Tobago, Bridgette Annisette-George, in responding to calls for the closure of the court, informed the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament that only countries of the Caribbean and Mauritius still utilized the United Kingdom-based Privy Council as the final Court of Appeal.
The CCJ was established in April 2005 and the 14 independent member states of the community have accepted its original jurisdiction as the sole court to adjudicate on matters pertaining to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. The final step of completing their judicial independence remains yet to be taken.
These recent calls reminded me of a letter I submitted to the editor of the Stabroek News which was published on February 10, 2005, mere weeks before the formal inauguration of the CCJ in April 2005.
It was captioned, ‘Many former colonies have withdrawn from the Privy Council,’ and the countries listed for the benefit of the region’s population in that letter were as follows:
“Canada Criminal Appeals (1933), Civil Appeals (1949); Republic of Ireland (1933); Myanmar (formerly Burma) (1948); India (1949); Pakistan (1950); The Maldives (1960); Ghana (1960); Cyprus (1960); Sierra Leone (1961); Western Samoa (1961); Uganda (1962); Nigeria (1963); Malta (1964); Tanzania (1964); Zambia (1964); Kenya (1965); Malawi (1965); Zimbabwe (1965); Guyana (1966); Botswana (1966); Lesotho (1966); Swaziland (1968); Nauru (1968); Tonga (1970); Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) (1971); Papua New Guinea (1975); Seychelles (1976); Solomon Islands (1978); Vanuatu (1980); Malaysia (1982); Australia (1986); Fiji (1987); Hong Kong (1997); The Gambia (1998)
“New Zealand is also moving in this direction if it has not already done so.”
Since that time, New Zealand has also withdrawn.
As we begin 2009, I wish that all concerned will bear in mind the advice of the Chairman of Caricom, the Honourable Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize, who stated in his New Year’s address to the community: “But there does come a time when consensus must prevail, when talk must give way to action. That time, I want to suggest to all citizens of the Community, is now.”
And what better way to demonstrate this action than for all member states to adopt the CCJ as the Caribbean Community’s Final Court of Appeal.
I wish you all a happy and productive 2009.
Yours faithfully,
Edwin W Carrington
Secretary-General
