Dominica parliament votes to severe ties with London Privy Council
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Dominica parliament votes to severe ties with London Privy Council

By TDN Wire Staff
July 03, 2014 1:43 P.M



dominica parliament
The Dominica Parliamnet building in Roseau, Dominica.
Roseau, Dominica (TDN) -- The Dominica Parliament has approved legislation allowing it to severe ties with the London Privy Council and to adopt the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as its final court of appeal.

In an 18 – 1 vote with two abstentions, where all 18 Dominica labour Party elected members voted for the legislation, Parliament effectively put an end to more than a hundred years of the Privy Council acting as the country’s highest court.

Following the vote, prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit told the media that his government would move swiftly ahead with completing the necessary formalities to make the move official. This is expected to be completed by the end of the week.

During the debate in Parliament the opposition United Workers Party questioned why the government was rushing ahead and not acting in concert with the other countries in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Opposition Leader Hector John argued that the decision to severe ties should be done at the regional level and not Dominica acting on its own. He pointed to St Vincent and the Grenadines where residents rejected the move to the CCJ when they were allowed to vote via referendum.

John also questioned why the government did not do like St Vincent and the Grenadines and put the matter to a vote. The constitutions of Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda require them to hold a referendum on the issue.

Grenada has signaled that it will hold the referendum later this year while the new government in Antigua and Barbuda has indicated that they will move quickly on getting the issue to the public. St Lucia’s prime minister Kenny Anthony meanwhile has announced publicly that his government favors severing ties with the London Privy Council.

Guyana, Belize and Barbados are the other Caribbean countries that have signed on to the full jurisdictions of the CCJ since its creation in 2001.

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