THE People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has lauded as a landmark ruling, the decision of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in the case of Shanique Samantha Myrie versus the State of Barbados.

The PPP/C declared it was a “ground-breaking as well as a watershed event for every Guyanese and, indeed, all Caribbean people.”

The views were conveyed during a PPP/C press conference on Monday, at Freedom House, in Robb Street, Georgetown, by Member of Parliament (MP), Bibi Shadick.
She said the judgement by the CCJ addresses, resolves and gives guidance on many issues of crucial importance to the Caribbean region.
The CCJ ruled, earlier this month, that Jamaican Shanique Myrie be awarded a total of Bds$75,000 or Jamaican $3.6M, after she took the Barbados Government to Court, claiming that she was discriminated against because of her nationality and subjected to a body cavity search in unsanitary and demeaning conditions upon entering Barbados on March 14, 2011, before being detained and deported, the next day, to Jamaica.
According to Shadick, it dissipates the doubts, which previously existed, regarding whether the CCJ has the intellectual integrity and institutional independence to replace Queen Elizabeth’s Privy Council, as the region’s final Court of Appeal and demonstrates, beyond doubt, the importance of having a judicial forum to interpret and resolve the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and other treaties executed amongst and between Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member States.

ALWAYS SUPPORTED
“It is public knowledge that Guyana has always supported the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice, both in its appellate as well as its original jurisdiction. Indeed, Guyana was one of the first countries to have embraced it as its final Court of Appeal,” she pointed out.
In addition, Shadick said the verdict has comprehensively addressed and, in the view of the PPP/C, settled the question of the freedom of CARICOM nationals to travel unhindered and hassle-free within the region.
She noted that Guyanese have been complaining, for years, about the ill-treatment, unlawful detention and illegal rejection to which they have been subject at airports throughout the Region and, in particular, the Barbados Grantley Adams Airport.
“These were the exact allegations made by Shanique Myrie, a Jamaican national, against Barbadian Immigration Authorities at the Grantley Adams International Airport,” Shadick observed.
She emphasised that the accusations were found, by the CCJ, to be factual and declared illegal and contrary to both the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas as well as a decision of the Heads of Government, made in 2008, which allows for hassle-free and unimpeded travel by CARICOM nationals within the region.
“The findings of fact, in relation to the conduct of the Barbadian Immigration Authorities in the Myrie case, corroborates, as well as vindicates, the similar complaints which Guyanese citizens have made against those very officials for several years,” said Shadick, who is a lawyer.
Moreover, she said the PPP/C hopes that the unlawful practices will now cease and, in this regard, they are encouraged by “certain disclosures made on this issue by the Barbadian Foreign Minister on a recent trip to Guyana.”

REMAIN VIGILANT
Nevertheless, Shadick said the PPP/C will continue to remain vigilant on the issue, although it regards the ruling by the CCJ as a genuine impetus to boost Caribbean integration.
“The CCJ spoke of the importance of building Community Law and ruled that Community Law must take precedence over Domestic Law in the Caribbean. Perhaps, of even greater significance, is that the decisions taken by Caribbean Heads of Government are enforceable as Community Law in the Region,” Shadick explained.
She said the PPP/C believes these are all concepts and principles which will advance regional integration from which every Guyanese and every CARICOM national will benefit.