80% of Caribbean nationals favour CCJ
--- survey
Guyana Chronicle
July 21, 2003
A public opinion survey conducted in the Caribbean on the Caribbean court of Justice (CCJ) has revealed that 80 percent of the populace in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM0 are in favour of the establishment of the CCJ.
BACKGROUND & PURPOSE
In 2002, the research focused solely on the Caribbean Court of Justice in an attempt to understand what public education initiatives are necessary to build further interest in and support for the CCJ at this stage of the Court’s development process. The research objectives were defined and agreed as: -
· To test public awareness and recall of communication material
· To measure current understanding of the CCJ and its objectives
· To understand the key issues, concerns, reservations with the CCJ at this stage of the process
· To measure public support for the CCJ
Research was conducted for two segments of the market (i) Stakeholder Organizations (SO) comprising the Bar Associations, Chambers of Commerce and the Workers Unions and (ii) the General Public (GP)
CONCLUSIONS
Public support for the CCJ has increased significantly since 2000 where the research highlighted that 68% of respondents were in favour of its establishment at that time. In 2002, an increased majority of the sample, 80% of the GP sample indicated support for the Court’s establishment. The CCJ also received full support from stakeholder organizations. The highest level of non-support was found in Jamaica (26%) and Barbados (15%) mainly due to fears that (i) the court will be subject to government/political interference, (ii) it will not be impartial or unbiased, (iii) it could be subject to corruption and bribery and (iv) that the court may not be just and fair to all.
Fundamental to the majority support for the CCJ from both groups is the belief that a number of the benefits will accrue to local and regional societies. Some of these benefits include (i) better legal decisions (17%), (ii) Reduced delays in the adjudication of cases, increased speed in processing cases (17%), (iii) a larger number of cases can be heard (13%), (iv) a perception that the CCJ would have a better understanding of the social and cultural environment of the Caribbean (11%) (v) the development of regional laws (10%), (vi) an expectation that the Court is likely to be less expensive, costly to hear cases (9%) and (vii) the principle that the Court supports CARICOM, Caribbean unity (8%).
Encouragingly, public and stakeholder interest in the CCJ is also high with 87% of the GP’s sample and all of the stakeholder organization expressing an interest in receiving more information about the CCJ mainly in the areas of (i) Appointments to the CCJ, (ii) Objectives/Purpose/Functions of the CCJ, (iii) Case Results, (iv) Financial Status reports of the CCJ, (v) Human Rights features, (vi) information on the Structure and Framework of the CCJ, (vii) Progress Updates, (viii) the Benefits/Advantages and Disadvantages of the CCJ, (ix) Law Reviews and (x) Criminal Matters. Areas of law where these two groups also have a special interest in receiving more information are Criminal Law, Family law, Commercial/Corporate Law, Industrial Relations/Social Security/Labour Law. The preferred media to reach the GP would be television, newspapers, news reports, brochures/flyers/leaflets and radio with direct mail and the Internet (email) the favored media for Stakeholder Organizations.
In the last 2 years, the general public’s exposure to information on the CCJ was primarily through (i) news reports, (ii) television and (iii) newspapers.