St Lucia to begin public consultation on CCJ this year

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – The St Lucia government says it intends to begin public consultations on the island becoming a full member of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) later this year.

Caribbean leaders established the CCJ in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council as the region’s final court, but only Barbados and Guyana have signed on to the  appellate and original jurisdictions of the CCJ.

The other CARICOM countries have signed to the original jurisdiction that allows the CCJ to function as an international tribunal in dealing with breaches of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that governs the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

“As I have often said the commitments that governments make at the CARICOM level must be upheld and must be sustained and so we are committed to that process and we believe it is one that we must continue to maintain…and hopefully by the end of 2010 going to 2011 St. Lucia will be in a position to move forward with the process,” Prime Minister Stephenson King told reporters.

King, who was among regional leaders attending the just concluded CARICOM intersessioanl summit, said there were a number of challenges, including constitutional requirements for a two-thirds majority in a referendum, to be dealt with before the island could join the CCJ.

On Friday, Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson called on his colleagues to ensure that they are full members of the CCJ.

“It weakens the CCJ when the country that is the headquarters of the CCJ, Trinidad and Tobago, is not a country that has acceded to the CCJ. So it is just one of those areas in which people see a yawning gap between the promise of unity and performance and as long as that is not resolved it will pose major difficulties for us.”

Thompson said that it was necessary for regional countries “to get with it” since their reluctance to join the CCJ could weaken the efforts towards establishing the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

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7 Comments

  1. Thoughtful
    March 15, 2010

    Reading some of the comments here it seems as of some of us still believe it is better that our affairs be dealt with in the “big house on top of the hill.” We in the fields are completely incapable of that.

    That is like 127 years later.

  2. de caribbean change
    March 15, 2010

    We need to vote CCJ outright and abolish the privy council in order to resume hanging in the caribbean. It is time to send our thugs and hoodlums and murderers to the gallows once again. So vote CCJ.

  3. STAGES
    March 15, 2010

    Think about what is going on in the courts in small island states where everybody knows everybody per se. It is a widely accepted fact that this type of attitude is very unhealthy for the judicial system.
    I guess this sort of mentality also threatens the very existnce of the CCJ.
    Suggestion. Why not leave the judicial system as it is and introduce Alternative Disputes Resolution to resolve some of the issues that creates back log to our judicial system?

  4. Cesare Bonventre
    March 14, 2010

    Fairplay

    Hard work should not be put off any longer for the long-term sake of the Caribbean people.

    Extend the challenge to the CARICOM and I’m certain the people are capable of rising to that challenge!

  5. Cesare Bonventre
    March 14, 2010

    The best decisions for a community happen at the local level

    Some far away land is less capable of being an accurate arbiter of local interests

    Bringing the prerogatives of the decision making processes closer to home enhances the fidelity of local interest representation

    In short, the Caribbean peoples know what is best for the Caribbean people – So let the Caribbean people take a more active roll in deciding their own affairs! CARICOM is much closer to home than some bankrupt European nation; and knows better how to administer the affairs of the Caribbean peoples.

  6. Prophet2
    March 14, 2010

    Trinidad is home for the CCJ and they haven’t even joined yet, do they know something that we don’t?

  7. Fairplay
    March 14, 2010

    There seems to be an inherent incompetency in our local courts.I will vote no to the CCJ.

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