(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) Former Chief Justice and Chancellor of the Judiciary of Guyana and the first female judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the Honourable Madame Justice Desiree Bernard has been selected as the eighth recipient of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Triennial Award For Women.
Justice Bernard was singled out for her outstanding contribution to the development of law in Guyana and the Region, and her leading role in advocating for women’s development. She will be conferred with the award at the opening of the Twenty Sixth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on Sunday 3 July, in Castries, Saint Lucia.
Among her many decorations for her work and dedication, Justice Bernard received the prestigious Cacique Crown of Honour (CCH) award in 1985, and was awarded Guyana’s second highest honour, the Order of Roraima (OR) in 2002. The female legal luminary was also awarded the University of Guyana Award for Achievement in Law in 1989, and the Organisation of Commonwealth Bar Associations (OCBA) Award in 2001.
Justice Bernard adds to her many feats her service to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women (CEDAW) having served as Chairperson for two terms from 1982 to 1998. As part of her tireless pursuit of women’s rights, she founded the Guyana Association of Women’s Lawyers and served as its President. Her membership to the International Association of Women’s Judges, Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association are attestations to her innate involvement in legal issues spanning the Region and Commonwealth.
Madame Justice Bernard completed her primary and secondary education in Guyana before enrolling at the University of London where she graduated with a Degree in Law with honours. From 1964 to 1980 she served as Solicitor, and moved up to the rank of High Court Judge where she presided from 1980 to 1992. Madame Justice Bernard was later appointed Justice of the Appeal in 1991, until acceding to the post of Chief Justice in 1996, and later Chancellor of the Judiciary in 2001.
Over time, Madame Justice Desiree Bernard’s service to the Region also included her membership to the CARICOM Council for Legal Education. Her defining moment in her career was marked at the inauguration of the CCJ on 16 April 2005 in Trinidad and Tobago, where she was sworn in as a Judge.
In becoming the third outstanding Guyanese to receive such an accolade, Madame Justice Bernard now joins Ms Magda Pollard and Professor Joycelin Massiah, the 4th and 6th CARICOM Triennial Female Awardees respectively. The Seventh CARICOM Triennial Award for Women was conferred on Professor Rhoda Reddock of Trinidad and Tobago, at the Twenty Third Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in 2002 in Georgetown.
