Japan’s Human Resource Development Fund has provided US$300,000 to help operationalise the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) which became a legal entity a month ago when Guyana, the third CARICOM state to do so, deposited its instrument of ratification.
The US$300,000 will provide technical assistance for the CCJ project by helping to develop indigenous laws, build capacity, support a regional judicial establishment, support information technology for the project including computerisation of the court, provide technical and advisory services and capacity for legal support, as well as training for judges and some amount of work in a public education campaign.
Japan’s contribution to the project was made to the UNDP and yesterday acting Resident Representative, Thomas Gass, and Deputy Secretary-General of CARICOM, Dr Carla Barnett, signed the project agreement for the technical assistance at the CARICOM Secretariat headquarters in Georgetown.
Barnett said the assistance would go a far way towards putting the project in motion but said much more would be required before full implementation was possible.
While the financial requirements for full implementation of the CCJ project have not been clearly spelt out, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is working on a prospectus to raise US$100 million on the international capital market by the issue of bonds for the operations of the court, which includes the payment of judges’ remuneration and travel costs.
This money is to be placed in a trust fund. The CDB will go to the market in February with its bond issue.
Barnett noted at the signing ceremony yesterday that operationalising the CCJ was one of the most important steps for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and signalled the sovereignty of the region’s judicial system.
Japan’s Ambassador to Guyana and Venezuela, Masateru Ito, said that the assistance was part of the increased importance Japan attached to its relations with CARICOM states.
He said he hoped that the cooperation agreement would be a great step forward for the judicial independence of CARICOM.
Ito, the non-resident ambassador to Guyana, is based in Caracas. He is here for the signing of the official notes for the resuscitation of the New Amsterdam Hospital.
Gass, in remarks at the signing, applauded CARICOM governments for their political will in ensuring the CCJ’s legitimacy.
The CCJ, whilst having original jurisdiction in interpreting and applying the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, is also designed to function as the highest appellate court for CARICOM member states, replacing the judicial committee of the UK Privy Council.
Gass sees the CCJ bolstering confidence in the CSME as it is to safeguard uniformity in the application of international law when disputes arise between member states or between a national of the community and a member state over rights and responsibilities.
He noted that the region is counting on the success of the CSME for its long-term prosperity and underscored the importance of having an environment in which people, capital, goods and services and enterprises could move freely to achieve this.
He said that there were high expectations of the CCJ and CSME leading the way to better the lives of the Caribbean people.