CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRocque said yesterday that it is his hope The Bahamas would join the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), noting that it would be a sign of nationality for Caribbean people.
"It has been something that I have been promoting just about every where that I go," he said at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."I know there are some member states of CARICOM that are actively pursuing becoming members of the appellate jurisdiction.
"Can you imagine if you have to appeal someone here [in The Bahamas], or someone in any member state needs to appeal other than Barbados, Belize and Guyana and they need to travel all the way to the United Kingdon for justice when it can be had right here in our region?
"All that I can encourage is that it receive the attention that it deserves."
LaRocque is on a visit of CARICOM member countries. He paid courtesy calls on Minister of National Security Dr. Bernard Nottage, Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell and Prime Minister Perry Christie.
LaRocque said while he hasn't formally recommended that the country join the CCJ in any of his talks with government officials, he said it is something he hopes they consider.
"It is my hope that every single Caribbean country would join the Caribbean Court of Justice," he said."This is a sign of a level of your own nationality as a Caribbean people.
"Why should we have Caribbean jurists serving on international tribunals and we can't dispense justice in our own community?
"We have done everything to create a court that would allow us to have our own jurisprudence. More and more countries are leaving the Privy Council."
The CCJ, established in 2001, is the Caribbean's regional judicial tribunal and is the highest court of appeal for Barbados, Belize and Guyana.
There have been calls in some circles for The Bahamas to sever its links with the Privy Council as its final court of appeal and join the CCJ.
On June 15, 2011 the Privy Council ruled that the circumstances surrounding the murder of 16-year-old Donnell Conover by Maxo Tido were not the worst of the worst in order to call for the imposition of the death penalty.
Her body had been burnt and her skull crushed.
Recently Court of Appeal President Anita Allen recommended to the Constitutional Commission that it look at the death penalty issue and put the question to the Bahamian people.
In her address, Allen noted that Barbados has amended its constitution and made the CCJ its final court of appeal to maintain the death penalty.

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