–at CCJ awards ceremony

THE Caribbean Court of Justice Academy for Law will host the inaugural Eminent Caribbean Jurists Gala and Awards Ceremony on October 7, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency, Trinidad.
This event, which will honour the contributions of the region’s distinguished judicial officers and legal professionals to the development of international law, will be the first of its kind in the Caribbean region, a release from the CCJ said. The CCJ Academy for Law is the educational arm of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), and was established to, among other things, “promote the recognition of judges and other legal practitioners who have made a consequential and lasting contribution to Caribbean jurisprudence, and to memorialise that contribution.”

The October 7 special occasion is meant to be the first of a series of annual events to serve this purpose, and will see 18 jurists inducted into the Eminent Caribbean Jurists Hall of Fame. Five of these inductees, who represent the most outstanding and long-serving honourees, will be publicly recognised and celebrated with the conferral of lifetime awards. These are Sir Shridath Ramphal (Commonwealth of Nations); Judge Patrick Robinson (International Court of Justice); Judge Anthony Lucky (International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea); Ambassador Dr. Bertrand Ramcharan (United Nations Refugee Office); and Professor Duke Pollard (Caribbean Court of Justice).

Judge Robinson, of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), will deliver the feature lecture, titled, “Independence is a Right, not a Gift: Lessons from Resolution 1514 and the Chagos Advisory Opinion” to an audience of regional government officials and policy-makers, judicial officers, legal professionals, law students and many others.

The event will also feature the formal launch of a book containing samples of the work of these jurists, under the title: Eminent Caribbean International Law Jurists: The Rule of International Law in the Caribbean. This publication is intended to provide a lasting resource, which will add value to the work of legal practitioners and others. The book will also serve to deepen the understanding of the culture of international justice. The Academy will host a fundraising dinner at the Hyatt on October 8, the day following the Awards ceremony.