KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC):
THE HEAD of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) of the University of the West Indies, Professor Neville Duncan, has called for increased public education about the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).
Professor Duncan has described the low level of knowledge amongst Jamaicans about the regional institutions as "worrying".
With just over a year to go before the CSME and the CCJ come on stream, Professor Duncan said a broad-based educational approach was needed, which would incorporate all members of the society at the varying levels, with concentrated efforts on the part of the media.
"I think if we start there, people are going to begin to ask to know more, but we need to do a public education."
SURVEY CONDUCTED
Professor Duncan said a recent survey conducted by SALISES, showed 77 per cent of the 1,581 adults questioned about the CCJ had "an apparent lack of clarity about the role and function of the CCJ at the national level."
"I think what we have done is to see it largely in terms of being the final court of appeal, when its real value is to be the final court of appeal for trade issues and investment issues; that is the initial value to having it," he said.
He said that Government, as part of the implementation process, would have to get the "public more involved and find new and innovative means by which the idea and value of the CCJ can be dispersed to the Jamaican public."
The CCJ, to be headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago will replace the London-based Privy Council as the region's final court of appeal. It is due to be inaugurated early next year.
Caribbean governments say the CCJ will form an integral part of the CSME to be established by 2004.
Professor Duncan said the survey showed that knowledge associated with the establishment of the CSME was also low, as persons were unable to say the kinds of changes that were associated with it, such as the need for a single currency or an easily convertible currency.
Furthermore, he said even fewer persons knew "how the single judiciary system, the CCJ, related to the process."
"That was far lower than everything else. None of them reached even close to 50 per cent," he said, pointing out that the CCJ was integral to the process to establish the CSME, as it would administrate on matters relating to the single market such as the free movement of labour, freedom to establish businesses and services and the absence of taxes on goods produced in the region.
Professor Duncan said the public education effort should extend to the rest of the region in addition to widening knowledge about the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and negotiations with the European Union (EU)and World Trade Organisation (WTO).
"I think people don't even know much about them," he added. But professor Duncan said he was confident that the Jamaican workforce would be able to cope in the open market environment.
OVERDRIVE FOOTING
"We do have the institutions that can be put on this overdrive footing we're talking about; not just three universities but a lot of tertiary institutions spread out through out the island. We are talking about using the computer technology for on-line learning," he said.
He also reinforced the importance of developing existing skills.
"We have infinitely more educated people than a Trinidad or a Barbados or a Dominica, so basically we do have a core to start a number of major industries that can be competitive regionally and globally," he added.
Meanwhile Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Justice, Michael Cohen, has said that plans were being formulated to mount a major public education effort on the CCJ and "once it has taken shape, the CARICOM Secretariat will provide the funding for its implementation."
