Above: Dominica (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Caribbean Court of Justice has a new member state: Dominica.

The Eastern Caribbean island has officially acceded to the CCJ as its final court of appeal, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit announced.

The court was first set up by regional governments in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council, but only a few countries have completely acceded to the court: Barbados, Belize and Guyana.

“The CCJ is an independent Court; it’s not part of the domestic affairs of any member state,” said CCJ President Sir Dennis Byron. “Its independence is assured by the institutional arrangements for the appointment of judges and by the character of the judges who have been selected in a competitive process and appointed. The selection process is competitive, rigorously transparent and completely free from political control or influence.”

The CCJ is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad, a country that has only partially acceded to the court.