Floyd Morris | Caribbean Court of Justice and persons with disabilities in Jamaica

On July 23, 2021, I made my contribution to the State of the Nation debate in the Senate. My presentation was anchored on the theme “Education for Transformation and Empowerment". In the presentation, I presented a plethora of arguments, and one was my usual consistent advocacy for persons with disabilities to be brought into the mainstream of Jamaican and Caribbean society.

For context, I must state pellucidly that I never stated that for the Disabilities Act 2014 to be implemented, it would require persons with disabilities to have access to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ}. Neither did I ever call for matters relating to persons with disabilities to be sent to the CCJ. I have never advocated for matters relating to this marginalised group to be lifted out of the Jamaican judicial system and sent to the CCJ, and so the statement in the Jamaica Observer – “Minister of Justice, Delroy Chuck, has dismissed a suggestion from Opposition Senator Floyd Morris that the implementation of the Disabilities Act will require disabled persons to have access to the Caribbean Court of Justice” – is off the mark.

In my presentation, which is available in Hansard and on PBCJ for the public to cogitate, I indicated that there was a special ministerial conference that would be held on July 27 and 28, 2021, to discuss the issue of specific legislation for persons with disabilities in the Caribbean. I further adumbrated that we are about building a strong jurisprudence for persons with disabilities in the Caribbean, and in keeping with my theme of the challenges bedevilling the Jamaican society, I pointed out that persons with disabilities in Jamaica do not have the financial resources to go to Britain to access the Privy Council. I then said to the Government, in light of this jurisprudence that we are seeking to build for persons with disabilities in the Caribbean and recognising that persons with disabilities are among the poorest in the Jamaican society, that we make moves to abandon appeals to the Privy Council and establish the CCJ as our final appeal court. Additionally, I postulated that I was prepared to guarantee the Government the 14th vote in the Senate, as required by the Constitution, to make the CCJ become a reality. Then, persons with disabilities would be able to access the CCJ.

REJECTED THE IDEA

Mr Delroy Chuck, the minister of justice, in his public reply to the suggestion in the Senate, has rejected the idea on the ground, among other things, that the suggestion "was never raised with me". As the minister with responsibility for justice matters, if before dismissing the suggestion out of hand, he had invited us to an informed discussion on the issues involved, we would have been able to set him straight on the studied reasons for our wish.

We would first have been able to remind the minister that in his pointing to the regional court as "the controversial CCJ", all fingers point back directly at him and his party who have made it so: that the controversy has arisen, and exists, only out of a partisan political condition insisted on by his party for the holding of a referendum for Jamaica to subscribe to the CCJ.

There is nothing controversial about the clear, uncomplicated procedure laid down by the Privy Council for the required cooperation of the parliamentarians in Gordon House for that to be accomplished.

Before that referendum condition was placed in the mix by his party, there had been consensus, with nothing remotely "controversial" coming from any quarter about Jamaica moving away from the Privy Council and having a regional court as our final court of appeal. This is why in my presentation, I placed it on the table that I was prepared to guarantee the Government that 14th vote in the Senate to have the Constitution amended to facilitate the CCJ becoming Jamaica’s final appeal court.

Second, we would have been able to advise the minister that his reasoning concerning virtual hearings that now apply both to hearings before the Privy Council and by the CCJ, though clearly relevant and helping to address affordability, remains far from the core consideration on which our suggestion is anchored.

At bottom, for the community of persons with disabilities in Jamaica, it is beyond debate that judges who are attuned to the culture and conditions that govern life in the region are competent and best able to consider and render final judgment concerning issues that confront us. When there was no such court, we were obliged to rely on the judges of the Privy Council.

CANNOT SIT BY

Third, we also would have been able to engage the minister on the direct message that came some time ago from the president of the United Kingdom Supreme Court to us in Jamaica and the region that it would be preferable that we remove the work pressure from his court and proceed to make use of the court that we have created and are paying for here in the region.

The community of persons with disabilities cannot afford to simply sit by and dismiss the threat or promise of the president to have judges at the level of our local appeal court judges sit in the Privy Council to hear final appeals from our jurisdiction. And that also, respectfully, should never be far from the minister's contemplation.

We get the distinct impression, from the dismissive nature of the minister's response, that he has, unfortunately, not applied his mind fully to the kind of insightful consideration regarding our suggestion that is necessary and required to address the best interests of the community of persons with disabilities. We invite him to do so.

In addition, the community of persons with disabilities has always wondered about the wisdom of the policy of the Government, which calls for the Jamaican taxpayer having to pay for the functioning of the well-established CCJ, and at the same time, continuing to provide funds for English lawyers and other matters attendant on filing petitions in the Privy Council. Former prime minister and leader of the Jamaica Labour Party Bruce Golding in a 2018 article in one of the local newspapers conducted an assessment of the CCJ over its 10 years of existence. Based on his personal assessment, he gave the CCJ an extremely positive review. I urge Mr Chuck to read that article and open his mind to the prospects of a court that is more accessible to citizens of Jamaica.

- Dr Floyd Morris is an opposition senator in the Parliament of Jamaica. Send feedback to columns@glenerjm.com.