Participants listen to and discuss presentations at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Trinidad
Presenters on The Improved Access to Justice Project
Hon. Attorney General of Montserrat Keith Friday along with Bennette Roach of the Montserrat Chamber of Commerce and Industry are among judges, lawyers and a wide section of Chambers of Commerce and Engineering organizations from CARICOM countries, attending discussions hosted by Caribbean Law Institute Centre (CLIC), Faculty of Law, of the University of the West Indies in Trinidad.
Tamiesha Rochester is the Project Officer for The Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT Justice) Project which she says is a positive response to requests by some CARICOM Member States for new arbitration legislation, and is sponsored by the Government of Canada.
The two-day forum which began on Friday morning, March 12, 2015 involved 13 CARICOM members: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the CCJ Jurist Project in Hon. Mr. Justice Winston Anderson from the CCJ. Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago; as well as Regional Associates,
The chairperson for the forum/discussions was Professor Velma rapporteurs, Mrs. Beverley Franklin-Brewer-Newton and Ms. Tamiesha Rochester. Welcome remarks opened the forum delivered by His Excellency Mr. Gerard Latulippe, High Commissioner for Canada to Trinidad and Tobago.
IMPACT Justice is designed to address deficiencies in the justice sector in CARICOM outside of those that are directly related to the judiciary and the courts. This is with a view to enhance access to justice for the benefit of women, men, youth and businessmen in CARICOM member States. The goal is to strengthen legal frameworks, improve legal professionalism and legal services including legal education and information and facilitate increased knowledge and use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms as a means of settling disputes at an early stage and without court intervention in the CARICOM region.
The main discussion surrounded ‘a model Arbitration Law for CARICOM Member States’. Professor Velma Newton, Regional Project Director from the Impact Justice Staff conducted and chaired the sessions, with Miss Tamiesha Rochester, Project officer (Rapporteur) and Mr. Henderson Waithe. Project Assistant.
Dr. Christopher Malcolm, presented on The Status of Arbitration Law in CARICOM, while Mr. Calvin Hamilton presented on The Involvement of Governments and State owned entities of CARICOM, both gentemen from the Faculty of Law, UWI, Mona Campus.
Miss Shan Greer, an Attorney-at-Law, St. Lucia presented on Arbitration and the Private Sector in CARICOM Member States. These were all followed by lively discussions ending the first morning of Friday.
The program would continue through Saturday ending with the presentation of Rapporteurs’ Reports.
