BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – The above quote is the conclusion Sir Dennis Byron, President-designate of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and his team wanted audiences to arrive at as they presented their case at various public awareness sessions in St. Kitts and Nevis prior to his swearing in ceremony on Thursday Sept 1 2011.
In town hall meetings, radio talk shows and press conferences, the learned lawyers have been presenting their case for the full establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (in its original and Appellate Jurisdiction) in all member states of CARICOM.
They have also been providing information on the role and institutional arrangements that underpin the Court and relating to audiences how the Court has been operating in practice over the last six years.
At a press conference held at the Open University Conference room.on Tuesday August 30, 2011, the panelists were President-designate, Sir Dennis Byron, Justice Saunders and Justice Hayton – all from the CCJ.
The pros of having a CCJ were well articulated by the panelists. There would be far easier access to the Appellate Court by ordinary citizens, they explained.
“The experience so far has been that over the last five years the amount of appeals from Barbados has increased by 300% over what was previously decided by the Privy Council,” Sir Dennis indicated.
In addition, through the use of technology e.g. video conferencing established within the CCJ, access was being enhanced even further.
Another point made by the panelists is that it would be far less expensive to have appeals heard by the CCJ.
“Final Courts of Appeal are costly and having the CCJ as a regional court has allowed the cost to be shared by the governments of the region through a unique and innovative financing arrangement.” This is how Sir Dennis explained it in a presentation to the Jamaica Bar Association in May of this year,
“One important feature of this is that the contracting states established a trust fund of US$100million; the court is funded by the proceeds of that trust fund. The financial arrangements are part of the package which guarantees the independence of the court.”
With CDB and its Board of Trustees disbursing the funds, this ensured that there was indeed a separation of powers and there was no direct involvement by Governments in the operations of the Court.
What is more, the panelists pointed out, it would not cost a penny more if countries were to graduate from using only the original jurisdiction of the Court and signed on to access the Court in its appellate jurisdiction as well.
Why then was this hesitation to sign on? There persists the underlying fear voiced throughout the Caribbean that within small societies there could be no real independence of the judges and impartiality was more likely to come from an outside source.
The fact that there was this continuing suspicion concerning the independence of Judges at the CCJ greatly disturbed Sir Dennis. He spoke of codes of ethics adhered to by the highly reputable judges of the institution, and the very independent selection process that was used.
He reiterated what was said to the Jamaica Bar Association and at the Nevis Town Hall meeting:
“I also know that in some quarters it is fashionable to suspect that political leaders want to exercise control over the judiciary and to influence their decision making. I think that it is well known that such behaviour is unethical and inconsistent with the principles of good governance that citizens are entitled to expect of their elected representatives.”
However, Sir Dennis is confident that CCJ will be fully established in time. He said that he had not really encountered any serious political objection to its eventual establishment.
He felt, moreover, that the CCJ would contribute much more to the quality of justice in regional courts and that the Press could play a bigger role in educating the public.
He tried to allay the fears of the public over the suspected lack of independence of the CCJ by emphasizing and explaining how impeccable its selection process is.
He referred to the endorsement of the process by outside sources:
“I am able to rely on internationally acclaimed British Academics Professors Phillipe Sands and Kate Malleson who recently published a book entitled Selecting International Judges: Principle, Process and Politics, after a 3 year research project. In a smaller research project in 2008 funded by the British Academy Professor Malleson explored the selection process to the Caribbean Court of Justice.
She has praised the process of selecting judges for the Caribbean court of Justice (CCJ) and has called the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC) –a model for identifying independent and high-quality judicial candidates.”
Finally, it was brought to the attention of all that the Caribbean soon may no longer have a choice as to which Appellate Jurisdiction it could access. Pronouncements in Britain have indicated that it is debating the cost and time that continued retention of the Privy Council is having on its economy and Judicial System.
This may have a catalytic effect on the decisions the remaining twelve of the fifteen Caricom members who have not yet signed on to having CCJ as its final Court of Appeal.
In his presentation to the Jamaica Bar Association, Sir Dennis stated that Caribbean countries ought not to wait any longer, and he sums it up this way:
“Lord Phillips has voiced the opinion that too much judicial time is spent by the senior Law Lords in England on Privy Council appeals from the Caribbean. He implemented measures to address it, including reducing the number of judges on each panel from 5 to 3.
This is in the context of discussions about the continued retention of the Privy Council, as a final appellate court which suggest that the time is approaching when the British Government will no longer want to provide this service. So, do we wait to be thrown out? I suggest not.”
The administration of the Caribbean Court of Justice has come in for high praise for arranging this week of public awareness sessions on all things pertaining to CCJ prior to the swearing in ceremony on Thursday.
As a result CCJ has become a more 'tangible'entity instead of being just "something out there that is being thrust upon us".
