Chief Justice (ag), Roxane George SC, yesterday dismissed the legal proceedings filed by Catherine Hughes on 12th December 2023, seeking a number of declarations regarding the establishment of the Human Rights Commission, according to Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC.
Hughes, Nandlall said, was seeking a declaration that the State’s alleged failure to operationalise the Human Rights Commission breached her rights under Article 154A of the Constitution, and a declaration that a certain statement made by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo was in breach of her entitlement to equality before the law (Article 149D) and 149F of the Constitution (equality for women).
In her submissions to the Court, Nandlall said that Hughes argued, among other things, that the said statement made by Jagdeo at a press conference held on the 23rd November 2023, at which he referred to Hughes as a “low-life”, amounted to discrimination against her as a female African member of the National Assembly.