Trinidad and Tobago to host 2 pilot projects aimed at modernising judiciary

Two pilot projects will be launched in TT following the meeting of regional heads of judiciaries in Grand Cayman on July 28-29. The event was held under the theme Administering Justice by Use of Information Technology: Building on covid19 Experiences.

A release from the Cayman Islands Judicial Administration said several resolutions were reached as a result of the conference. The TT Judiciary said the conference was attended by Chief Justice Ivor Archie.

The first project is a conference e-Archive which would be hosted by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) based in Trinidad, as part of the knowledge management system (KMS), a digital platform to be created in the final phase of a multi-million-dollar Canadian government-funded judicial reform and institutional strengthening (JURIST) project, which supports business continuity efforts in the ongoing covid19 pandemic.

The second project was the pilot of a virtual judicial education platform JUST-CONNECT, an aspect of the US Government’s Caribbean Basin Security. The conference received a virtual presentation on the topic from the US National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Project Director JoAnne Richardson and her team. The pilot will serve to inform the adoption and management of the platform.

The conference also passed a strongly worded resolution calling for a commitment-in-principle in support of the use of Caribbean Agency for Justice Solutions’ (CAJS) court management platform.

The heads of judiciaries recommended that regional judiciaries consider in appropriate cases the permanent adoption of measures to allow for the virtual participation of parties and witnesses in court proceedings. To facilitate this, they proposed the establishment of supervised kiosks at remote locations with assisted access (where needed) to proceedings by way of Zoom or other similar technology.

They also pledged the continued sharing among the membership of protocols and practice directions developed for the use of IT in response to the pandemic and more generally.

Another key outcome of the conference was a resolution to establish a forum for communication between the regional heads of government and the heads of judiciaries to arrive at common solutions for tackling crime and other pressing regional issues that intimately concern the administration of justice.

Following presentation on wellness by behavioural psychologist Dr Diane Douglas, of Trinidad-based Douglas and Associates, and psychiatrist Dr Joseph Sadek, of the Nova Scotia Health Services and Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, the heads of judiciaries called for the introduction of a programme of wellness, including psychological and psychiatric support, for all judiciary and judicial support officers.

The conference reviewed its constitution and confirmed the inclusion of Bermuda. The conference membership will now include Bermuda along with the 20 Caricom member and associate member states, bringing the conference membership to 22 territories, including the Netherland Antilles and Aruba, which is not currently a member of Caricom.