CCJ mourns death for Justice Désirée Bernard

RETIRED Justice Désirée Bernard who served as a judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice died on March 28.

A citizen of Guyana, Bernard was a member of the inaugural CCJ Bench in 2005 and served the Court until her retirement in 2014.

According to a release by the CCJ, Bernard was the first female jurist on the CCJ Bench, first female High Court Judge of the Supreme Court of Guyana, first female Justice of Appeal, first female Chief Justice of Guyana and in the Commonwealth Caribbean, and first female Chancellor of the Judiciary of Guyana and in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

Bernard contributed to the improvement of the status of women and to the development and practice of law. She was a source of inspiration to others in the judicial fraternity with one of her mentees, Justice Maureen Rajnauth-Lee, describing her as self-effacing, kind and humble.

“Mme Justice Bernard presented many scholarly papers and participated in numerous international seminars and colloquia both regionally and internationally on a variety of subjects relating to the law, gender, and other matters of public interest.”

Over the years she held memberships in various regional and international organisations including as first president of the Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations, as rapporteur and chair of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and as a judge of the Inter-American Development Bank Administrative Tribunal.

Bernard also received several awards for her contributions including the Cacique Crown of Honour and the Order of Roraima, Guyana’s third and second highest national awards, respectively. She was awarded the Caricom Triennial Award for Women in July 2005, the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) by The University of the West Indies in November 2007 and an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Guyana in February 2023.

CCJ President Justice Adrian Saunders said, “It is well nigh impossible that the region will ever produce another trailblazer as Justice Bernard was. She was a tremendous role model and while it is tempting to focus on her contribution to inspiring generations of women regionally and internationally, her influence in the region generally, in the creation of the OCCBA and in the development of our Caribbean jurisprudence, must not be forgotten. It was an absolute privilege and pleasure to work alongside her.”

On March 30, the CCJ's first president Michael de la Bastide, a former chief justice of Trinidad and Tobago died at the age of 86.