PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Monday said it intends to conduct further referrals sessions on its Original Jurisdiction and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy (CSME) in Barbados later this year.
Last weekend, The CCJ, established in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council as the region’s final Court, held a sensitization program for members of the Barbados Judiciary.
“This is the fourth installation of the regional sensitization series, which is being conducted by the Court to facilitate a deeper understanding of the CCJ’s role in protecting the rights under the CSME and the referral process,” the CCJ said.
The CCJ said that the program, funded by the European Union through its 11th European Development Fund (EDF), is aimed at raising awareness of the Court’s exclusive and compulsory jurisdiction to interpret and apply the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) in its Original Jurisdiction (OJ).
Under Article 211 of the RTC, any questions arising before a national court requiring the interpretation of the Treaty must be referred to the CCJ for determination. But the CCJ notes that “despite these provisions, in its 18-year history, there have been no referrals to the Court” and that “this series is, therefore, critical to ensuring that courts are educated on these provisions.”
The CSME allows for the free movement of goods, skills, labor, and services across the region and is intended to better position member states to grow by having access to and using the resources of the region as a whole rather than relying only on the resources of the particular member state.
The EU Ambassador and Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Barbados, Malgorzata Wasilewska, affirmed the EU’s commitment to strengthening the justice sector in partner countries.
“Judicial cooperation is a key pillar of the EU’s partnership with the Caribbean. Such support is important as it is one of the main avenues for promoting democratic governance, the rule of law, respect of human rights, gender equality, citizen security, and thereby sustainable socio-economic development – all values which the EU upholds and which we believe it is important to promote,” she added.
The CCJ said that it is intended that further sessions on referrals, the CSME, and the OJ will be conducted with additional stakeholder groups in Barbados in October later this year, when the Caribbean Academy for Law, the educational arm of the CCJ, hosts its seventh Biennial Law Conference Criminal Justice Reform in the Caribbean.
That conference will be held under the theme “Achieving a Modern Criminal Justice System.”
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