The Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations (OCCBA) is urging the Barbados Bar Association (BBA), the judiciary and other stakeholders to work on putting measures in place to reduce court delays.
The OCCBA issued a statement supporting the BBA in its complaint about the slow delivery of justice which, it said, amounted to a breach of clients’ constitutional rights.
“Some mechanisms include putting in place more judges and support staff (particularly judicial clerks), night courts, improving the plant and equipment of courts, using online platforms for hearings giving judges leave from hearing new cases to specifically deliver written judgments in older cases, enforcing the constitutional provisions to deal with members of the judiciary who fall behind in delivering their judgments, judicial training and setting targets for reducing case backlog,” the organisation suggested.
It also said that the lawyers’ body should continue to raise its collective voice on reducing court backlogs and delayed cases, which remains a problem not only in Barbados but throughout the justice systems of the Commonwealth Caribbean. (AC)
