The United Kingdom’s Caribbean Security and Stability Fund (CSSF) is providing EC$200,000 to six countries in the Eastern Caribbean to facilitate remote operations of the magistrates courts during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Kitts & Nevis and St Vincent & the Grenadines will tap into the funds that will be used to purchase equipment including laptops, printers, scanners, mobile phones and Zoom subscriptions.
The equipment and use of technology will allow the courts to make a smooth transition to the digital delivery of some essential services and limit substantial disruption to the criminal justice process.
According to a statement issued here by the British High Commission, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced jurisdictions to implement stringent social distancing rules to lessen the risk of transmitting the virus. These measures have resulted in the suspension of physical court activity.
As a functioning criminal justice system is essential to delivering law and order and reducing the risk of social unrest, the US/UK criminal justice adviser to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Mrs Sirah Abraham, approached CSSF for assistance to support remote working in regional magistrate courts.
“This support will reduce the risk of spreading the virus, prevent courts from being shut down as a result of spread and limit any delays in the criminal justice process by ensuring that these essential services are still provided to the public,” the high commission said.
Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC), Dame Janice Pereira, had already urged courts to use remote hearings to facilitate the continuation of proceedings and prepared guidance on how these matters were to be conducted in a practice direction issued in relation to COVID-19 emergency
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I can only hope the said funds are allocated to its intended use and not the “creative enrichment” accounts.
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