The Caribbean Community is an intergovernmental organisation of 15 member states throughout the Caribbean having primary objectives to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members,to ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared,and to coordinate foreign policy. The organisation was established in 1973. Its major activities involve coordinating economic policies and development planning;devising and instituting special projects for the less-developed countries within its jurisdiction;operating as a regional single market for many of its members;and handling regional trade disputes. The secretariat headquarters is in Georgetown,Guyana. CARICOM is an official United Nations Observer beneficiary.
The Caribbean Court of Justice is the judicial institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Established in 2005,it is based in Port of Spain,Trinidad and Tobago.
Dr Abdulai Osman Conteh is a lawyer and politician from Sierra Leone. He is a former vice president of Sierra Leone,who served under President Joseph Saidu Momoh before he was ousted by the military junta in 1992. Conteh later spent a considerable number of years in Belize,where he served as the country's chief justice before returning to Sierra Leone.
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) is a superior court of record for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS),including six independent states:Antigua and Barbuda,the Commonwealth of Dominica,Grenada,Saint Kitts and Nevis,Saint Lucia,Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and three British Overseas Territories. It has unlimited jurisdiction in each member State.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) persons in Guyana face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Guyana is the only country in South America,and the only country in the Americas outside the Caribbean,where homosexual acts are still illegal. Under the laws of Guyana,engaging in anal or oral sex can carry a possible punishment of life imprisonment. The law is not enforced,however. Recently,there have been efforts to decriminalise homosexual acts.
Sir Brian George Keith Alleyne,QC is a Dominican jurist and judge.
The Supreme Court of Judicature of Belize is one of three types of courts in Belize,the lower ones being the Magistrate's Courts and the Court of Appeal. It is a court of original jurisdiction in both civil and criminal cases as well as an appellate court. It is governed by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (SCJA).
Doug Singh is a Belizean politician and a member of the United Democratic Party. He is the former Minister of Police and Public Security in Prime Minister Dean Barrow's cabinet 2010.
Edmee Yolanda Schakron-Rodríguez is a Belizean activist and People's United Party candidate,best known as the aunt of murder victim Chris Galvez and a founder and president of Belizeans For Justice. Schakron was briefly the PUP standard bearer for the Lake Independence House constituency in 2012,but her candidacy was disallowed due to her dual citizenship at the time in Belize and the United States,after which she renounced U.S. citizenship. Schakron was the unsuccessful PUP nominee for Mayor of Belize City in 2015.
Troadio John Gonzalez is a justice of the Supreme Court of Belize.
Sir Manuel Sosa CBE is a former president of the Belize Court of Appeal,a position he held from 3 January 2011 to 24 December 2020,the longest term of any holder of that office.
The Chief Justice of Belize is the head of the Supreme Court of Belize. Under Chapter 7 of the Constitution of Belize,the Chief Justice is appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Samuel Lungole Awich is a Commonwealth jurist,whose career has taken him from his native Uganda to Botswana,the Solomon Islands,and for the past decade Belize.
The Attorney-General of Belize is a cabinet-level official who acts as the principal legal adviser to the government of Belize.
Lutchman Sooknandan is a Guyanese-Belizean lawyer. He previously served as Belize's Director of Public Prosecutions,practices law privately at Sooknandan's Law Firm,and serves as Guyana's honorary consul in Belize.
The Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS) is a law school in Trinidad and Tobago.
Adrian Dudley Saunders is a judge from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Since 2005,he has been a judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Francis Mortimer Cumberbatch is a Guyanese lawyer and judge. He has worked for the government in the Bahamas and since 2007 has been a High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.
Sir Lascelles Lister Robotham was a Jamaican lawyer and judge who worked in a number of Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean. He was Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court from 1984 until his retirement in 1991.
Désirée Patricia Bernard is a Guyanese lawyer and jurist who was the country's first female judge of the High Court in 1980 and Justice of Appeal of the Supreme Court in 1992. She was appointed Chief Justice of Guyana in 1996,Chancellor of the Judiciary of Guyana and the Caribbean in 2001 and a Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice in 2005. In 2014,she was appointed to the Bermuda Court of Appeal.
