Ambassador Speaking Points for the Caribbean Community Administrative Tribunal (CCAT) Regional Sensitisation Workshop

Monday 2^nd September 2024

Waterfront Judicial Center, Port of Spain

Trinidad and Tobago

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and a warm welcome to all participants both in the room and on the virtual platforms.

It is indeed a pleasure to bring remarks at the opening of this workshop, which falls, under the EU’s Support to the Caribbean Court of Justice programme. This project aims at improving access to, and delivery of, justice in the Caribbean region, by strengthening the functions and outreach of the CCJ, supporting the establishment and operationalization of the Caribbean Community Administrative Tribunal (CCAT), and enhancing legal education in the Caribbean.

Today’s activity is specific to the operationalization of the Caribbean Community Administrative Tribunal (CCAT). This institution, which was established in 2020, is intended to provide an effective judicial mechanism related to employment related disputes.

When we look at the benefits of a tribunal, we note that for this one to be perceived as effective, it will need to be adaptable and flexible, providing individuals with fair justice, delivered quickly and affordably.

I have no doubt that Justice Westmin and his team are prepared for the task at hand. A word of caution here, in order to ensure its success you as clients need to use the system, to test its robustness. I therefore urge you over the next two days to interrogate the plans and procedures, to have some clarity when you back to your respective agencies.  

The theme of this workshop, “Enhancing Institutional Governance and Accountability: The use of International Administrative Law by the Caribbean Community Administrative Tribunal”, resonates with the support the EU is providing to a number of regional institutions.  

We support the justice sector in our partner countries, because it is one of the main avenues for promoting democratic governance, the rule of law, respect for human rights, gender equality, citizen security, and thereby sustainable socio-economic development

Improving access and delivery of justice through CCAT extends to the right to a fair hearing and the conduct of proceedings. Clients now have the possibility to go before the Tribunal to change a decision taken in the context of a recruitment procedure and to remedy de facto discrimination. It can also assess the conduct of staff members as well as termination of employment.  

It is our hope that at the end of the project we will see progress in the CCAT’s performance in servicing its clients, which will in turn improve judicial functioning, in general.

We are aware that administrative justice is a key component of good governance. However, the nature of judicial  services demands that for it to work we may need to carefully assess checks and balances, transparency and accountability in decision making in such a way as to avoid jeopardizing administrative efficiency.

Judicial cooperation remains a key pillar of the European Union activities in the Caribbean.

Aside from the assistance provided to the CCAT there are other initiatives currently being implemented:

1. Partnership of the Caribbean and the European Union on Justice (PACE Justice) Regional Programme:  This is a 48-month programme on criminal justice reform.  PACE Justice aims to reduce current and prevent future backlogs of criminal justice cases in eight countries in the region,  with integrated software, hardware and skills and capacity interventions that will address the causes of the backlog. The programme is being implemented by the UNDP and financed by the EU with a 9.75 million EUR allocation.
2. Caribbean countries are also participating in phase 2 of EL PAcCTO - Europe Latin America Programme of Assistance against Transnational Organized Crime. This is an international cooperation programme funded by the European Union that seeks to contribute to security and justice in the region.

All these initiatives confirm the EU’s firm commitment to creating common ground for efficient and effective rule of law systems. We believe that we have many assets to offer in terms of judicial integration, and are keen to share them with our partners in the region.

Thank you for your time and attention this morning.  Best wishes for a productive workshop.