The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has expressed shock and sadness at the sudden death of the Head the University of Guyana’s Law Department and former Head of the Coordinating Unit for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Jamaican Sheldon McDonald.
Mr. McDonald, 64, died on Wednesday from injuries received in a car crash in Guyana.
CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, in a Statement on Mr McDonald’s passing, described him as a true representation of the phrase ‘son of the Caribbean’ and noted that CARICOM has lost a citizen who was deeply committed to regional integration.
Read Full Statement:
STATEMENT ON THE PASSING OF MR. SHELDON MCDONALD
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is shocked and deeply saddened by the sudden death of Mr. Sheldon McDonald, Senior Lecturer and Head of the Law Department, University of Guyana. Mr. McDonald is a true representation of the phrase ‘son of the Caribbean’. He is Jamaican by birth but has worked arduously and consistently in the interest of all of CARICOM.
He has contributed significantly to the regional integration movement by being involved at all levels of Community-related activities from as early as 1993. He was one of Jamaica’s representatives on the Inter-Governmental Task Force (IGTF) charged with revising the Treaty of Chaguaramas. This resulted in the Revised Treaty which instituted new governance arrangements for the Community and includes the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.
From 2000 to 2005, Mr. McDonald served at the CARICOM Secretariat as Head of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Project Coordinating Unit. This was the Unit that led the work programme towards the establishment of one of the sterling institutions of the Community, the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Mr. McDonald was able to further widen his contribution to the Caribbean when he served as Legal Advisor to the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) from 2006 to 2010. It was thereafter that he began to lecture and head the Law Department of the University of Guyana. He also wrote many scholarly articles on a number of areas of the law.
CARICOM Secretary-General, Irwin LaRocque said “Our Community acknowledges the debt of gratitude that it owes to Sheldon. CARICOM has lost a citizen who was deeply committed to regional integration. On behalf of the Community, the Secretariat and on my own behalf, I extend heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Mr. McDonald on his untimely death. May his soul rest in peace.”
