PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Michael de Labastide says he is 'disappointed' that only Barbados and Guyana have accepted the regional court as their final court of appeal.

Only Barbados and Guyana have signed on to the appellate jurisdiction of the 18-month-old CCJ, while most of the other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are signatories to the original jurisdiction of the Trinidad-based court which is intended to replace the London-based Privy Council as the region's final court of appeal.

Appeal

But writing in the first publication of the CCJ's annual report, de Labastide said that he was certain that in the years to come, Caribbean people would be proud of the court and again appealed to Caribbean governments to ensure the court is their final court of appeal.

"I do not hide my disappointment and that of my colleagues that to date only Barbados and Guyana have accepted the Court as their final court of appeal in substitution for the Privy Council.

"It is to be hoped that other CARICOM countries who are signatories to the agreement establishing the Court, will sooner rather than later recognise that the Caribbean Court of Justice can be trusted to determine issues arising within their jurisdictions and processed through their domestic courts, with a level of independence and competence that matches that of any other Supreme Court in the Commonwealth."

In January, Barbados Attorney General Dale Marshall said the delay by some regional states to sign on to the CCJ as their final appeal court is a discredit to the region.

"The time has come for us to send a strong signal to our brothers and sisters across the region that the continued delay in embracing the appellate jurisdiction of the court does the region, in my respectful submission, a discredit," Marshall said as he addressed judicial officers in Barbados for a Commonwealth meeting.