Rights: Beyond the Blue Wave and Blue Waters

I am painfully aware of a declining appetite for matters related to human rights and their place in both domestic and international law.

There is everything between the Blue Wave and Blue Waters to keep us otherwise occupied, and that is understandable. But we must, at some point, recognise some of the silent but significant connections involving civil and political rights.

Next week, Caribbean journalists will consider related matters when the Media Institute of the Caribbean (MIC), supported by the French Embassy in Port of Spain, examines current regional geopolitical challenges.

There are critical issues being ignored amid the whirlwind of intrigue and conflict that seems to be attracting the most attention.

Last week, the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) hosted a closed session on Equality before the Law, Arbitrary & Pre-Trial Detention to which, as a lay person, I was surprisingly invited as a presenter.

My brief was to examine the judgment of the CCJ in Derek Ramsamooj v The State of Suriname within the context of the dormant Caricom Charter of Civil Society.

I had the opportunity, before members of the judiciary, regional bar associations, and other senior folks to propose that the judgment could be a turning point in the region's understanding of rights, regional integration, and the responsibilities of governments to their citizens.

The judgment notes the gap between regional commitments made by governments and their practical application. Yes, there might be those in power who would probably prefer withdrawal from multilateral obligations of that kind. So, some of this will appear entirely irrelevant to chosen paths.

The details of the case were discussed here on June 24 and were elaborated upon by the presentations of CCJ President Winston Anderson and Justice Chantal Ononaiwu last week.

The Court was required to consider whether rights guaranteed under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC), including freedom of movement and the provision of services, could be meaningfully exercised without minimum protections for fundamental human rights.

The Court's answer was that the effective exercise of Treaty-based rights must be accompanied by such guarantees.

In doing so, the judgment also provided practical significance to the Charter, signed in 1997.

Although the Charter is not a binding treaty, the ruling recognised its relevance in interpreting Community law and identifying the general principles underpinning regional integration.

The importance of this development was underscored by Justice Anderson, who described the case as one of the Court's “seminal cases in the Original Jurisdiction.”

He also emphasised the importance of determining whether a minimum human rights standard applies when Community nationals exercise rights under the regional integration framework.

In serious countries, the respective bar associations would have been busy parsing the text of the judgment and debating its value as the outcome of a “seminal” case.

I argued that the judgment offers an opportunity to establish the Charter to its rightful place in Caribbean political, legal, and institutional discourse.

There are 27 articles that address equality before the law, personal security, fair hearings, freedom of expression, democratic participation, peaceful assembly, good governance and a range of social, economic and cultural rights.

Almost three decades after its adoption, public awareness of this instrument remains limited. Its principles are rarely invoked in sustained examinations of legislation, administrative conduct, and the performance of public institutions.

There are also prescribed monitoring and reporting arrangements. But there is a need to reinforce these through a structured mechanism which complements rather than relies exclusively on the UN Universal Periodic Review and the Inter-American system.

Such awareness needs to be more meaningfully mainstreamed. And the Charter should feature much more prominently in legal education, journalism training, public policy discussions, and civic education throughout the Community.

We should not wait for the Blue Wave and the Blue Waters to subside. In 1992, the Ramphal Commission described the moment as a Time for Action. We are back there. Will there be action this time around?