Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Anthony Hilton is confident the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will rule in his country’s favour and against Barbados when it hands down the decision in a widely anticipated case involving 24-year-old Shanique Myrie, a Jamaican who accused Barbadian Customs and Immigration officers of cavity-searching her at Grantley Adams’ International Airport.
“I know the strength of the case we have. I know what the intent was when we created the treaty [on the free movement of skilled CARICOM nationals],” he said in Montego Bay.
“I participated in the creation and the negotiation of the treaty. I know what the intent was and I know there has been a breach [by Barbados] of both the letter and the spirit of the treaty.”
Hilton, who lodged the case against Barbados when he was an opposition parliamentarian in Jamaica, was quick to insist that his confidence about the outcome wasn’t based on any inside information on the CCJ’s intentions but, instead, could be traced solely to the strength of Jamaica’s case.
