ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, – The Grenada government has reiterated his commitment to the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
“I want to assure you that Grenada is fully committed to the CCJ as an expression of our support for the deepening of the integration movement and our respect for the ability of our people to make our own decisions,” Prime Minister Tillman Thomas told a visiting CCJ delegation.
Thomas, who is also the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) chairman, told the delegation headed by outgoing CCJ President Michael de la Bastide that his administration is “putting all the necessary measures in place to make the CCJ the final appellate court for our country”.
The CCJ, established in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council as the region’s final court, also serves as an international tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that governs the regional integration movement as well as the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
However, while most of the Caribbean countries are signatory to the original jurisdiction of the CCJ, only Barbados, Guyana and Belize are signatories to its appellate jurisdiction.
Thomas said the region has demonstrated that it has “the human resource capacity and the legal competence to manage a legal system that will serve the people of the region well.”
Members of the CCJ delegation, who are in Grenada to participate in the review of the country’s 1973 Constitution, are also using the opportunity to meet with various interested parties on the development of the Caribbean Court.
Prime Minister Thomas, who is also a lawyer, had previously paid tribute to the development of jurisprudence in the region by pointing to Sir Charles Michael Dennis Byron, who “continues to make an outstanding contribution” to both the region and the international community.
Sir Dennis will succeed de la Bastide as the CCJ President in August. (CMC)
