CCJ opens sitting in Guyana promising to ramp up public education

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), for the second time since its establishment in the early 2000s, is hosting sittings in Guyana on Wednesday and Thursday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Georgetown.

And at the ceremonial opening, CCJ President, Justice Adrian Saunders promised that the court will do much more to ramp up public education on the functions of the court.

He said people must be able to see and interact with those who hand down final judgements instead of perceiving the judges as people who are “remote, brooding and infallible.”

“Judges must avail themselves on appropriate occasions to interface with key stakeholders.

“Throughout the region, people of all walks of life need to have the opportunity to see from time to time, in flesh and blood, those who pass ultimate judgement on them,” Justice Saunders noted.

Resultantly, the CCJ President said numerous engagements will be hosted over the next several days to afford members of the public the opportunity to learn more about the court and its methods of work. He also said there will be engagements with stakeholders in the legal sector.

Importantly, Justice Saunders noted that the itinerant sitting of the Court in Guyana is the first time, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, that in-person hearings are being held.

For him, this is noteworthy for two reasons. The first being that Guyana was the first country to accept the CCJ as its apex court. Secondly, he reminded the gathering that this year, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), under which the CCJ falls, commemorates its 50th anniversary and that body is headquartered in Guyana.

Meanwhile, Guyana’s Chancellor (ag) of the Judiciary Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Chief Justice (ag), Roxane George both acknowledged the importance of the CCJ to Guyana.

The Chancellor pointed out that matters from Guyana dominated appeals heard by the Caribbean Court. As such, she reasoned that the court has provided much service to the country.

Similarly, the Chief Justice noted that many cases that made their way to the CCJ in recent times are of national importance.