It is, for me, a signal and special honour - indeed privilege - to have been invited by the Government of Jamaica to bear witness to today’s auspicious occasion, the swearing-in of Mr. Justice Charles Winston Anderson, as Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). The occasion is particularly auspicious, as today marks the first time that a Jamaican national is being elevated to the high judicial office of Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice, a development for which I have long yearned.

With equal significance, it is the first time that a swearing-in ceremony for a judge of the CCJ, is being conducted in Jamaica. Together, for me, as Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, these two landmarks make for a most joyous conjuncture.

In March of this year, while attending a meeting here in Jamaica, I received a telephone call from the Rt. Hon. Michael de la Bastide, President of the CCJ, seeking my assistance in ascertaining whether the authorities in Jamaica would be disposed towards the hosting of such a ceremony as this.

That we are all gathered here today, ladies and gentlemen, is positive proof of the ready and willing commitment of Jamaica to that end, at the very highest levels of the Executive and Judicial branches of the Government, as well as to ensure a more representative composition of the CCJ.

Ladies and gentlemen, a prestigious appointment such as this calls for the highest qualifications. Mr. Justice Anderson has duly distinguished himself, both by scholarship and character. My knowledge of the candidate leaves me in no doubt of this. Indeed, in discharging its function as the Appointing Authority for Judges, the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission would not have been inordinately challenged, in arriving at the choice of Professor Anderson.

And so, it is with a decided feeling of accomplishment that all of Jamaica should hail today’s swearing-in ceremony of Mr. Justice Anderson, being fully assured that he would be able, in the independent and impartial discharge of his duties at the CCJ, to make a sterling contribution to the evolving body of regional jurisprudence and to the further development of the Court.

This assurance springs from my awareness of his keen insights and deep knowledge garnered from his Professorial days at the University of the West Indies Faculty of Law. His many scholarly publications in the field of Private International Law, a most complex and intricate branch of the Law - I am told – have brought a unique Caribbean perspective to that field of jurisprudence. Professor Anderson has also made an outstanding contribution in the field of Environmental Law in the Caribbean. Indeed, many in that field in the Region, legal practitioners and policy makers alike, have no doubt benefited from his impartation of legal scholarship and training.

But that is not all. From 2003 until 2006, Professor Anderson left academia and entered the regional service as General Counsel of the Caribbean Community. That’s where I had the good fortune to work with him and to benefit from his extraordinary ability. While there, he experienced “up close and personal” the inner workings of our Community, advising its Principal Organs, including the Conference of Heads of Government, through both written and oral legal opinions, thereby influencing the outcomes and directives that eventually became Community policy. Indeed, the formal aspects of the establishment of the CCJ and the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission were actually overseen by General Counsel Anderson. It is this aspect of his formative years - the time spent in the CARICOM Secretariat more than any - that I believe, would have most adequately equipped him for the assumption of the higher office which today’s ceremony symbolises.

It is therefore, with a sense of personal pride, that I take part in today’s proceedings for Mr. Justice Anderson’s swearing-in. Beyond that, Jamaica and the wider CARICOM must also share in the pride that attends this moment. Congratulations are most definitely in order, and to the family of Mr. Justice Anderson, both immediate and extended, you are indeed entitled to join with him in cherishing this historic moment.

Welcome Mr. Justice Charles Winston Anderson, to the Caribbean Court of Justice.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org