PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad & Tobago, Tues. Feb. 15, 2022– The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has been accepted into the International Consortium for Court Excellence (ICCE) and is the first court in the region to receive such an honor. Those accepted into the ICCE, an international network of courts and other organizations with expertise in court/judicial administration, are entities that have demonstrated a commitment to excellence using an International Framework for Court Excellence (IFCE). Other current members of the ICCE include the Supreme Court of Singapore, the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil, the High Court of Namibia, the National Centre for States Courts of the United States, and the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts.
The ICCE, which was introduced to the CCJ by its former president, the Rt. Hon. Sir Dennis Byron, in 2016, was designed to help courts improve their performance in the areas of court management and leadership, court policies, court proceedings, public trust and confidence, user satisfaction, court resources, and affordable and accessible court resources—a total of seven core areas. According to a press release from the CCJ, this then led to an objective self-assessment by the Court and the subsequent initiation of several projects to address all the limitations that were identified during the assessment. Since then, the ICCE has influenced all of the CCJ’s projects, initiatives, and organizational processes, including the implementation of an online E-filing system which reduces the time and funds that individuals have to spend on filing; the implementation of a Human Resources Information System, and the introduction of Enterprise Risk Management to help the Court identify and manage risks—all of which have helped the Court to transform the way it operates.
In receiving the prestigious honor on behalf of the Court, the current president of the CCJ, the Hon. Mr. Justice Adrian Saunders, thanked employees of the Court for contributing to its achievement and noted that the journey is far from finished.
“While we can proudly state that we are living our strategic vision of being a model of judicial excellence, excellence is not a static achievement. It is a non-stop cycle that requires continuous improvement,” he stated.
The CCJ president also pledged that the Court will continue in its efforts to serve the region to the best of its ability and to fulfill its mission of providing “accessible, fair, and efficient justice for the people and states of the Caribbean Community.”
Under the leadership of Justice Saunders, the ICCE system has now been fully incorporated into the CCJ’s administrative practices.
The Caribbean Court of Justice, inaugurated in Port of Spain, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago on 16 April 2005, joins the ICCE just a few months before its 17th anniversary.