A BROAD coalition of human rights groups and the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs are calling on the Government to withdraw three bills relating to the controversial Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which were recently tabled in the Senate.
The grouping charge that if passed, they will be open to "easy political manipulation".
"We feel very very strongly about how the Government is trying to bring the CCJ in without prior consultation. It's an important thing, of major significance to the justice system, especially at a time when the system is limping along badly," said Dr. Martin Aub, vice-chairman of the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs. He said doing it the wrong way would be disastrous.
"We need a trial period before we give up appeals to the Privy Coucil, and the system needs to be set up in such a way that judges can be properly protected, so that they can act independently, and the system not abolished by a simple majority in Parliament," he continued.
The group, in a release yesterday, said it viewed "with concern and disappointment the tabling of three government bills in the Senate, which are designed to abolish the citizens' right of appeal to the Privy Council and to replace it with appeals to the Caribbean Court of Justice".
"These bills have been tabled without any prior parliamentary consensus, which has been the accepted approach to constitutional reform and is also in disregard of the people's rights and desire to be consulted in a referendum," the release said.
SPECIAL LEAVE
The bills seeking to establish the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as Jamaica's final appellate court were tabled in the Senate last Friday. The Government has chosen to accept the continuation of the right of special leave to appeal to the Privy Council for a finite period, to be defined in discussions with the Opposition.
The bills in question, tabled by Minister of Justice A.J Nicholson, are: The Caribbean Court of Justice Act; An Act to Amend the Judicature (Appellate Jurisdiction) Act; and An Act to Amend the Constitution of Jamaica to provide for abolition of Appeals to Her Majesty in Council, to make provisions for appeals to the Caribbean Court of Justice.
"We have been complaining about the way in which the Government has been seeking to put forward certain bills at Christmas time."
