COVID-19’s legal dimensions documented

The IMPACT Justice Project, which is funded by the Government of Canada, and the Academy of Law of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), recently collaborated to ensure that the Court’s 6th Biennial Conference, which took the format of a webinar series, would be captured for posterity in a published format.

The 6th Conference took place in the midst of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic which has upended lives and livelihoods around the world, and changed the way that business is conducted, even at the level of the court system. The publication was fully funded by the IMPACT Justice Project and edited by The Honourable Justice Winston Anderson, a Judge of the CCJ and Chairman of the CCJ Academy for Law.

The publication features presentations by many prominent legal scholars, jurists and practitioners from around the Caribbean. The publication is broken down into four thematic chapters. Chapter 1 is titled ‘International Law and COVID-19’ and covers issues such as international responsibility for public health risks; the COVID-19 travel restrictions; the health situation and response to the crisis; global access to vaccines; and how the pandemic affects the global legal order.

Chapter 2, titled ‘Civil Liberties and COVID-19’ investigates issues such as how the pandemic affects human rights; civil liberties in the case of Israel as it relates to the pandemic; the decline of democracy in Europe and Turkey in light of pandemic related measures; and economic and social rights.

Chapter 3 of the publication is titled ‘COVID-19 and Commercial Contracts’ and contains contributions which speak to: aspects of Force Majeure; frustration of employment contracts; and commercial contracts in sports. Finally, Chapter 4, which is titled ‘COVID-19 and the Administration of Justice’ takes a look at the Guyanese judiciary’s experience during the pandemic; the emergency practice directions which were employed throughout the region; the pandemic’s impact on courts in America analysing the Ohio court system; trials during the pandemic era; the practitioner’s perspective on administration of justice during COVID-19; and how the justice sector adapts to the new normal.

IMPACT Justice is pleased to have sponsored this CCJ publication which assesses how the crisis impacts not only the administration of justice, but the everyday lives of citizens in the Caribbean and around the world as it relates to the legislative actions which have been taken to combat the virus.

Professor Velma Newton is the Regional Project Director of the IMPACT Justice Project. (PR)