ATTORNEY-GENERAL and Minister of Justice, A.J. Nicholson left the island yesterday for St. Vincent and the Grenadines to attend meetings of the CARICOM Legal Affairs Committee and Commonwealth Law Ministers.
These meetings are taking place at a time when the Commonwealth Secretariat in London is spearheading the drafting of several model pieces of legislation to assist member states of the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth Secre-tariat will provide, for discussion by the law ministers and senior officials of law ministries, updates on the modernisation of the laws of evidence, the protection of privacy, the Common-wealth legal response to terrorism and a draft model law on electronic transactions.
Also included on the agenda of the Law Ministers Meeting are the Latimer House Guidelines on Parliamentary Supremacy and Judicial Independence, strategies for enhancing democracy by eliminating legal barriers to development, a proposed revision of the London Scheme on the rendition of fugitive offenders and activities of the commonwealth in the legal field.
The meeting of the CARICOM Legal Affairs Committee will consider proposals to institutionalise the conference of heads of judiciary of the Caribbean Community and will receive a Report on the status of the United Kingdom/Caribbean Jurist Association. The CARICOM Attorneys-General will be asked to consider several legal instruments which deal with the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.
On the agenda of the Legal Affairs Committee are proposals for amendment of defamation laws. This matter was raised at the January 2002 Special Meeting of Ministers responsible for Information, Communication and Technology and in late July at a two-day symposium for Caribbean media personnel sponsored by the UNDCP. At that symposium, concern was expressed by media owners about "the anachronistic and oppressive libel laws that exist in CARICOM states". Media houses in attendance indicated their willingness to fund the work of a consultant in order to expedite the process.
There will be a status report on the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice whose Draft Agreement has already been ratified by St. Lucia, Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. The meeting will be advised of the progress of the financial protocol and trust instrument relating to the financial security of the region's proposed final appeal court.
Mr. Nicholson will be supported at the Commonwealth Law Ministers meeting by Solicitor General, Michael Hylton, QC, and the Director of Legal Reform, Dr. Eileen Boxill, and at the CARICOM Legal Affairs Meeting by Miss Gladys Young, Acting Crown Counsel in the office of the Attorney-General.
