TT President says Region should replace Privy Council

By Michelle Nurse On Apr 24, 2017

Trinidad and Tobago President, Anthony Carmona, has expressed frustration that his country and other CARICOM states have not replaced the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as their final authority in legal matters.

Though 12 of the 15 CARICOM territories have signed the agreement establishing the CCJ, which was launched in 2005 as the final arbiter in legal disputes among and within regional members, only Barbados, Guyana, Dominica and Belize have accepted this court as the end decision-maker.

Carmona, who served as a High Court Judge before being appointed as President in 2013, expressed his frustration during a presentation on Thursday to University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, undergraduate organisation, ‘Students Today Alumni Tomorrow’.

“Why have we yet, not all, subscribed to the jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice?” he asked in the Henry Fraser Lecture Theatre while delivering a presentation on, ‘Redefining Caribbean Pride for the 21st Century Youth’.