PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Guyanese-born jurist, Justice Arif Bulkan, has been appointed a judge of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), replacing Justice Winston Anderson, who was elevated to the presidency of the court on July 4.
Justice Bulan’s appointment was announced by the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC), the independent body responsible for recruiting staff and judges for the CCJ, which was established in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council as the region’s highest and final court.
Justice Arif Bulkan
“The RJLSC has the legal responsibility of making appointments to the office of Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice and makes these appointments based solely on the merits of the applicants, including their expertise, integrity, and dedication to justice,” said Justice Anderson, the RJLSC chairman.
He said during the recruitment process, the Commission received approximately 26 applications from Australia, Barbados, Canada, Cameroon, Fiji, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, St. Lucia, Sri Lanka, the United States, and Trinidad and Tobago.
“Of the applications received, five candidates, three males and two females, were shortlisted for further consideration and subsequently interviewed, and the successful applicant appointed. The Commission remains committed to maintaining a process that is fair, transparent, and impartial,” Justice Anderson said.
Justice Bulkan is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, the University College London, and also holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Law from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada.
He has worked both regionally and internationally and in the course of his career has functioned in various capacities, including as a litigator, academic, author, activist, judge, and international law expert.
Justice Bulkan was admitted to the Bar in Guyana in 1990 and sat on the Court of Appeal of Guyana in 2018, and since May 2022, has served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal of Belize.
Between 2008 and 2022, Justice Bulkan taught in the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies. He was also an expert member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, serving as one of the Committee’s Vice Chairpersons from 2019 to 2022. He was elected in June 2023 to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for a four-year term and is currently serving as the Commission’s Second Vice-President.
Justice Bulkan has published widely on indigenous rights, human rights, and constitutional law. For his work in human rights, he was conferred with the Anthony Sabga Caribbean Award for Public and Civic Contributions in 2017 and was named a PANCAP/CARICOM Champion for Change in 2017.
Justice Bulkan is expected to be sworn in on a date to be announced in October.
and then ){kind=link}