Madame Chancellor
Hon. Chief Justice
[Hon. Justices] Hon. Attorney-General and Minster of Legal Affairs
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Specially Invited Guests
Distinguished participants
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
There are very few occasions when a layman is before the bench and the bar that one does not feel apprehensive. Even today accompanied as I am by my legal team, I must still plead guilty on that score. I am apprehensive. However, Madame Chancellor and Your Worships, I wish to use a plea with which we in Trinidad and Tobago are quite familiar when faced with such a situation: guilty with a cause Your Honour!
However there is a twist. I want to implore you to join in my cause and that cause is not only the establishment but also the smooth operation of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
As the bedrock of the judicial system, you, the Magistrates, have a critical role in your jurisdictions to ensure that this final stitch in the fabric of Caribbean Independence – the Caribbean Court of Justice – is firmly knotted.
As Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, I am deeply appreciative of the opportunity afforded me to briefly record at this forum the significant step undertaken by the Caribbean Community in establishing this landmark regional institution.
Ladies and Gentlemen, historical records show that in the early 20th century (1947), Colonial Governors at a meeting in Barbados expressed the view that the Privy Council was far too removed from the social realities of the Colonies to be effective as a final adjudicating body. This revelation was long after a surprising editorial by the Jamaica Daily Gleaner – (by no means a militant supporter of regionalism) – of 6 March 1901 to the effect that “thinking men believe that the Judicial Committee (of the Privy Council) has served its turn and is now out of joint with the conditions of the times” – that is ladies and gentlemen, one hundred and two years ago!
From then until the 1960s, there were intermittent calls for the removal of the Privy Council and the establishment of a Caribbean Court of Appeal, as a final Court for the Region. It was in the 1960s too, that the architects of the system of indigenous legal education in the Caribbean determined that as a preparatory step, it was necessary to provide the Region with a cadre of lawyers who not only understood the technical aspects of the law, but also understood its social context.
April 1970 stands out as a critical juncture from which to trace the debate for the establishment of a final Court of Appeal for the Caribbean. The Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Association (OCCBA) based on a study it had conducted, reported the need for a Caribbean Court with original and final appellate jurisdictions for the Commonwealth Caribbean and recommended the establishment of such an institution. At the Sixth Heads of Government Meeting in Kingston, Jamaica that same year, there was a resolution, which urged the establishment of a Committee of Attorneys General to consider the question, taking into account proposals on the subject from the OCCBA.
In 1989, the Heads of Government Meeting in Grand Anse, Grenada brought the debate back firmly to the front burner with their decision to proceed to establish a Caribbean Court which would replace the Privy Council as the final Court of Appeal for the Region. This landmark decision took the issue from the arena of academic debate – as it were – and located it within the realms of regional, political decision-making. Decades of the intellectual debate had, by the visionary act of the Heads of Government become fused with the political will required to make such a Court a reality.
That Grand Anse meeting also identified the need for deepening our integration process to prepare for what today is called globalisation. Decisions were taken therefore with a view to managing the changes that this phenomenon would bring about and to adjust to the new demands it presented. In this regard, CARICOM’s response was to restructure the region’s economy to create a single, more viable economic space in other words- the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) which is indispensable if the Region is to be able to preserve and advance its interest in the new dynamic of a global economy.
To create this Single Market and Economy, it was necessary to revise the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which, from the time it was signed in 1973, set out the terms of engagement by which its Member States had to abide. This Revision completed in 2001, aims, inter alia, at supporting competitive production in CARICOM for both the intra regional and extra regional markets. It will also provide for free movement within the region, not only of goods, but also of services, of capital and of skilled labour. Inherent in all these is the potential for disputes. Indeed some have already arisen.
There was need therefore for a legal institution, which would adjudicate these disputes and interpret the rules of engagement as one entity, removing the burden and danger of different national jurisdictions adjudicating on regional disputes.
The Caribbean Court of Justice, therefore, is both necessary and timely in the restructuring of our economies and society generally. The structure of this Court is unique, in that it is an international tribunal with exclusive jurisdiction for the interpretation and application of the Revised Treaty Establishing CARICOM, and at the same time it is a Court of last resort, that is, the highest appellate court in the Caribbean Community for both civil and criminal matters. As an appellate Court, the CCJ will therefore replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. This will be following the example over the last 60-odd years of no less than 34 countries including Canada, India, Australia, Tanzania, Ghana and our own Guyana.
There have been some fears, including that the quality of the judges who will preside in this Court may be suspect. I personally find such assertions to be offensive. The quality of judges from our Region can hardly be questioned. We have produced judges who have presided with distinction in Courts at the highest level all over the world, and will no doubt continue so to do. It must be borne in mind too, that the choice of judges would not be confined to the Caribbean Region. Candidates may come from any territory of the Commonwealth. Also, the judges for the Court will be appointed by a Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission, the selection of which will be outside the political domain. Indeed, in that regard the CCJ would be the only international tribunal whose judges will not be directly appointed by political representatives.
As regards progress, it was my honour on 23 July 2002 in Trinidad and Tobago, the Headquarters of the Court, to declare the Agreement establishing the Court as having officially entered into force with the depositing of the Instrument of Ratification by the Governments of Saint Lucia, Barbados and Guyana. Since then Belize and Trinidad and Tobago have deposited their instruments. The ratifying states will need time to prepare, table and enact national legislation to give domestic legal effect to the Court’s jurisdiction.
At the Twenty-Third Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government last July, right here in Georgetown Guyana, the Heads of Government took a major step when they mandated the Caribbean Development Bank to raise on the international market, US 100 million dollars to establish a Trust Fund, the yield of which will be used to finance the operations of the Court on a sustainable basis. The CDB is to on-lend to participating states, the money raised so that they can meet their obligations to the Court in a one-time payment and then repay the loan on the basis of an agreed formula.
With the Court now legally in existence, we are all looking forward to the Inauguration, which is proposed for later this year. The inauguration will be a most historic occasion for the fifteen Member States of the Caribbean Community. In a very real sense their independence will be complete. That will be the crowning glory of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Caribbean Community, which is being celebrated this year.
The circle, Ladies and Gentlemen, will be virtually complete. We would have taken a giant step towards making the Caribbean whole. What we now do with that Caribbean will be all but completely in our hands – a most serious and weighty responsibility for us all in a world today literally tethering on the brink of war.
Notwithstanding the current major challenges we face today, including the rising regional wave of crime, we have as a people, demonstrated on occasions in the past that we can achieve excellence. Let us use that history as an inspiration as we move towards a common goal for our Caribbean – a viable, prosperous and peaceful society, one worthy of the highest aspirations of our people.
In this quest you, the bedrock of the judicial system, have a key role to play.
I thank you.
