(Trinidad Express) Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Reginald Armour has reiterated his stance for Trinidad and Tobago to make the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) the final appellate court, replacing the United Kingdom-based Privy Council.
Addressing heads of judiciaries, senior judicial officers, jurists, academics and other policymakers from across the region and further afield during the inaugural hemispheric meeting of regional courts, organised by the CCJ and held at Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain yesterday, Armour said within his first week of assuming office as the new AG and Legal Affairs Minister, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley gave his unequivocal support and instructed him to ensure that the country’s treaty obligation of making the CCJ the final court of appeal is achieved during his tenure.
“I unapologetically take this opportunity to restate my own unequivocal support and that of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for the Caribbean Court of Justice becoming our final appellate court,” Armour said yesterday.
“Indeed, both the honourable Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and I spoke publicly on several occasions of the sovereign imperative for Trinidad and Tobago to take that final step toward self-determination. We are resolute in our belief and our acclamation that the Caribbean Court of Justice has more than adequately demonstrated its judicial pedigree and independence, its sound reasoning, its logic and its ability to be innovative in its decision-making.
“Side by side we stand, islands of the blue Caribbean Sea, and indeed those members of our Caribbean mainland territories. I reiterate the assurance today that I leave no stone unturned nor bridge uncrossed in that endeavour,” he added.
AG also praised CCJ
The AG also praised the CCJ for efficiently carrying out the law of justice across the region remotely with the use of technology, and said the coming-together of courts represented yesterday was a step toward advancing the region of jurisprudence on various subjects.
It was day one of the two-day gathering to discuss the rule of law and international justice, and some of the subjects discussed included compliance and enforcement of international judgments and institutional arrangements of international courts.
Also speaking, CCJ president Justice Adrian Saunders said: “The meeting of hemispheric regional court is of particular significance for the Caribbean Court of Justice for several reasons, not least of which is the fact that it’s the first in-person conference we’ve been able to host since March 2020.
Best practices
“It is not by chance that the court urged the convening of this gathering… Of the courts represented here, ours is the youngest. We, therefore, have a considerable amount to learn from the experience of the other courts. It is particularly in the CCJ’s interest to discover best practices, which we can adapt in order to build upon the modest advances we have made to date in the pursuit of our own mandate.
“Being the youngest established court, and especially given the very unique and dual role of the Caribbean Court of Justice, we believe that we also have experiences and innovations that can profitably be shared with our judicial hemispheric colleagues… More than ever, this meeting allows us all to express and demonstrate our mutual solidarity and commitment to the peoples of the region whom we serve,” Saunders added.
The CCJ is the Caribbean’s regional judicial tribunal which was established in February 2001.
It is a hybrid institution in that it includes a municipal court of last resort and an international court vested with original, compulsory and exclusive jurisdiction in respect of the interpretation and application of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.