ROSEAU, Dominica – Former attorney general Henry Dyer has called on regional countries to join the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) saying that the region has the capacity to manage its own legal affairs.
Speaking during special sitting of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in honour of outgoing Chief Justice, Sir Hugh Rawlins, he said that the Caribbean needs the CCJ, which other eminent regional jurists have said would fully allow for the total independence from Britain.
While several Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have signed on to the original jurisdiction of the CCJ, only Barbados, Guyana and Belize are signatories to the appellate jurisdiction.
Trinidad and Tobago has now signalled its intention to allow for some criminal matters to go before the CCJ, which was established in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council as the region’s final court.
The CCJ also serves as an international tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that governs the regional integration movement.
Dyer said the CCJ “is of historical necessity since the call for its establishment was in 1947 when the colonial governments and ask that this court be established.
“I say all this because I was proud and I am still proud that Sir Hugh is one of those trained lawyers in the Caribbean and …I am a very strong supporter of the CCJ because I am one of those who believe we have come of age to paddle our own canoe,” Dyer said. (CMC)
