PRESS RELEASE ON THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL (CCAT)

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has established a Caribbean Community Administrative Tribunal (CCAT).  The CCAT will be launched at a ceremony to be held on Monday, 17 February 2020 at the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) Headquarters in Barbados, at which the Members of the Tribunal will be sworn in.

CARICOM Heads of Government approved
the establishment of the Tribunal at their Thirtieth Inter-Sessional Meeting in
St. Kitts and Nevis in February 2019. 

The CCAT is an impartial and
independent judicial body that will provide staff members of the CARICOM
Secretariat and Regional Institutions, subject to the CCAT’s jurisdiction, with
a forum for the final settlement of employment disputes. The Community and its
Institutions, as international organisations, enjoy immunity from lawsuits
brought in national courts.   

Previously, staff members were without
recourse to an appropriate and effective judicial mechanism that could
determine the legality of decisions with respect to an employment-related
dispute. After exhausting the internal dispute resolution mechanisms of their
organisations, staff members still aggrieved by the outcome, will be able to
appeal to the CCAT for settlement. 

The CCAT is bound by principles of due
process of law and its decisions are to be consistent with the principles of
fundamental human rights and in accordance with international administrative
law. In exceptional cases, judgments of CCAT can be appealed further to a
Review Committee made up of five judges of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)
after leave is granted by the Review Committee.

The Tribunal will consist of five
Members who are appointed for a four-year term by the Regional Judicial and
Legal Services Commission (RJLSC), with consideration given to an equitable
geographical distribution and an appropriate gender balance.

The Members are required to be of high
moral character, intellectual and analytical ability, sound judgment and
integrity and must:

•         have
held, hold or be qualified to hold high judicial office in a CARICOM State; or

•          be
jurisconsults of recognised competence with experience as such for a period of
not less than ten years; or

•          be
jurisconsults of recognised competence with particular experience in the field
of labour relations for a period of not less than ten years.

The posts of Members of the CCAT were
advertised by the RJLSC which, following a competitive process, selected Mr. Patterson Cheltenham, QC, President
of the Tribunal; Ms. Lisa M. Shoman, SC; Mr. Westmin James; Ms. Dancia Penn,
QC and Mr. J. Emile Ferdinand, QC. 

The Members will be sworn in by the
President of the CCJ, the Hon. Mr. Justice Adrian Saunders and the ceremony,
which will commence at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Caribbean Time, will be live-streamed
by the UWI TV at https://uwitv.org/ and on the
CARICOM Secretariat Face Book page - https://www.facebook.com/caricom.org.