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The Caribbean Court of Justice |
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Written by Oscar Ramjeet
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Sunday, 14 September 2008 |
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Page 2 of 2
The Caribbean jurisprudence and its promotion are not just about civil and criminal disputes and matters of public law, but the CCJ also exercises an original jurisdiction since the Court is charged with the resolving disputes between Caribbean countries which are parties to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
The Jamaica Labour Party was in government when the idea was mooted for the CCJ and they are back in power after eighteen years and they are not taking steps to do so. Manning is now busy switching his attention to greater heights maybe to be the leader for the wider OECS, and is not pushing for his country to join the CCJ although the regional Court is based in Port of Spain.
The Attorney General of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica born Justin Simon is advocating a joint referendum of the OECS states to determine if they should adopt the appellate jurisdiction. But this cannot be done, since a decision has to be taken by each country. It might be a good idea for Simon to advise his Prime Minister, Baldwin Spencer who is now the Chairman of CARICOM to try to convince member states to join, and perhaps try to persuade the Prime Minister of the country of his birth to do likewise.
In fact Spencer told an interviewer on Observer Radio's Voice in Antigua that he does not think Antigua and Barbuda is entirely opposed to the Manning initiative. He added that "our level of functional co-operation in the OECS is very high and good. As a matter of fact we have been applauded all over the world for what we have been able to accomplish at that level"
The CCJ was inaugurated since April 2005, more than three years and three months ago with only two countries joining, Barbados and Guyana, and there is no indication of any other 10 countries are taking steps to do so, especially since the court is being underutilized.
I have written several articles about the CCJ, and even suggested that the authorities consider a lobbyist, perhaps an influential regionalist like Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Commonwealth Secretary General, to urge the governments as well as the opposition parties to accept the CCJ as the final court of appeal in the region.
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