Saying that issues have arisen in Trinidad and Tobago which could threaten the very existence of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), a group of respected regional statesmen are calling on the island’s administration to distance itself from what they call “retrogressive developments.”
Since its establishment, the CCJ has been the final court of appeal for Guyana, Barbados and recently, Belize, and it has long been held that the inclusion of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago would cement the court’s status as an important regional institution.
Under the administration of Basdeo Panday, Trinidad and Tobago had committed to replacing the Privy Council with the CCJ, but the current Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has said that a referendum would have be held in order to determine whether the country should delink from the Privy Council. A referendum is likely to favour the Privy Council.
Regional figures, which include Sir George Alleyne, Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Jamaica Prime Minister PJ Patterson, Sir Alister McIntyre and Dominica’s President Nicholas Liverpool, issued a statement last week following media reports in Trinidad surrounding the country’s expenditure for the court and its possible withdrawal from the process. Recently, a report in the Trinidad Express stated that just over $200 million has been spent by the government there to fund the Caribbean Court of Justice since its inception in 2005.
But Dr Michael Lilla of the CCJ also pointed out in the Express article that expenditure was covered by the state because it won the bid to host the CCJ, and therefore accepted responsibility for the premises in which it is held. Similarly, the regional leaders said that Trinidad fought forcefully for the headquarters of the court and that it was not foisted on a reluctant host country.
“We wish particularly to correct the inference that Trinidad and Tobago is carrying a disproportionate cost of the CCJ,” the group said, noting that a Regional Trust Fund was established from which the costs of the court would be met. They explained that all Caricom countries are responsible for the Trust Fund in agreed amounts; Trinidad and Tobago is responsible for US$36.1M, Jamaica for US$28.7M, Barbados for US$13.5 M and Guyana for US$8.8M. Caricom’s smallest countries (OECS and Belize) are responsible for US$2.2M each.
Since Trinidad and Tobago have the largest populations, the group said, they are responsible for the highest percentage of the fund, in accordance with the established formula for Caricom institutions, adding that Trinidad’s contribution to the Trust Fund cannot be subjected to any reduction because that would erode its capital base. “Any attempt to create a climate of hostility to the Court by distortions in the country of the Court’s location is serious in itself. When it is accompanied by suggestions of creating a National Court of Appeal in place of the CCJ, the implications for the people of the Caribbean Community including Trinidad and Tobago, become stark and troubling,” the statement from the group said. They warned that such developments, “which, as in an earlier era,” could bring down the structures for advancing the interests of the people of the region, “structures which were carefully constructed and nurtured over the many decades by sons and daughters of all Caricom countries not least Trinidad and Tobago.”
The group continued that Caricom member states—individually and collectively—face severe challenges in the international political economy and in their regional and national circumstances. According to the group, it is a time when the people of the region need strong and stable regional institutions to help fulfil their aspirations for social and economic development. “It is not a time for retreat; it is a time to go forward,” the statement added.
Further, the group said that mutual undertakings of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas are the foundations on which Caribbean regional integration now exists and are the base by which its development must be guided, noting that the CCJ is an indispensable pillar of its structure. They opined that if the court was to fail, the structures of unity it supports would be imperiled.
The signatories of the statement were all honoured by Caricom Heads of Government during the last eighteen years and are recipients of the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC). The group said the honour imposed an obligation on it to speak out on this issue. “We do so with humility, but with a sense of duty to our Caribbean people.”
