Moving towards the CCJ

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, May 7, CMC – St. Lucia will follow the position  adopted by Dominica in its move to become a full member of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Governor General Dame Pearlette Louisy has said.

Delivering the traditional throne speech at the start of a new parliamentary session on Tuesday, Dame Pearlette said that the Kenny Anthony government would write the British government on the island’s move to join the CCJ, which was established in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council as the region’s final court.

“Let it never be said that we are an ungrateful nation. We shall always be grateful to the United Kingdom

Government for the years it has allowed us to use the Privy Council as our final Court Of Appeal,” she said.

Barbados, Belize and Guyana are the only Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries that have joined both the appellate and original jurisdictions of the court that also functions as an international tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that governs the 15-member regional integration grouping.

Most of the other countries are signatories to te original jurisdiction.

The Governor General said that while St. Lucia had joined other CARICOM countries and signed the agreement establishing the CCJ in 2002, it did not proceed to abolish appeals in civil and criminal matters to the Privy Council.

Story Courtesy: Cananewsonline