Politics
CCJ Trust Fund Performing Quite Well
In fact, there are projections that the US$100 million initial capital investment will prove to have been surpassed during the course of last year as the 2013 accounts are also expected to reflect returns in excess of 10 per cent. At the end of 2012, the Fund balance was US$93.7 million.
CCJ president Sir Dennis Byron has described use of the CCJ Trust Fund as the best funding mechanism in the world for any court. The Fund had been established amid concerns that judges of the CCJ would be paid by governments which could exert decisive informal pressure on them to deliver judgments favoring their regional governments.
The Caribbean Court of Justice Trust Fund is administered by a Board of Trustees selected from regional bodies and as a consequence, the CCJ is the only integration court of its kind financially independent of the largesse of governments and free from their administrative control.
The CCJ, established in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council, also acts as an international tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that governs the regional integration movement. Additionally, the CCJ has original and appellate jurisdictions. While most of the Caribbean countries have signed on to the original jurisdiction, only Barbados, Guyana and Belize are signatories to the appellate jurisdiction.
In his statement, Justice Nelson said that it is believed that additional governments will abolish appeals to the Privy Council and come into the Court in its appellate jurisdiction. “As litigants gain greater confidence in the Court they will take advantage of the fact that it is much easier to access it than the Privy Council and use it for an increasing range of possibilities. The strategic plan of the court has indicated our intention to initiate activities to promote improvements in the delivery of justice region wide.”
“It is in this context that the court’s expanded operations and responsibilities will result in the need to “top up” the Trust Fund in due course,” he said. “I want to emphasize that the concept of topping up the fund is quite different from rescuing it from depleted resources. I am satisfied that the ending balance of the fund in 2013 is no less than the original fund….,” Justice Nelson added.
Source: Caribbean360
