The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has a new judge.
Nigerian-born Justice Chile Eboe Osuji was officially sworn in at President’s House on Tuesday morning, replacing Justice Andrew Burgess from Barbados, who recently retired.
Justice Chile Eboe Osuji served as the President of the International Criminal Court (ICC); a Legal Advisor to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; and conducted appeals before the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.
He said, “So the court serves its purpose, not only as a court for the CARICOM nations to resolve disputes arising from the Treaty of Chaguaramas, but also there is no need to look beyond the seas for a final court of appeal, given the quality of judges we have on that bench.”
President Christine Kangaloo described the appointment of the newest judge to the CCJ as a “perfect match.”
“Among his many other accomplishments, Justice Eboe Osuji also has the distinction of having served as the fourth President of the International Criminal Court and is the first former judge of the ICC to be appointed to the CCJ. Justice Eboe Osuji and the CCJ are a perfect match.”
Justice Eboe-Osuji also responded to questions on whether he would like to see T&T having the CCJ as the final court of appeal on all matters.
“It should have already have happened. It’s not about during my tenure. I think, as I said, I mean, Trinidad and Tobago is one of the leading nations in the region, and they could have led by that example to say, look, we’re going to repatriate the administration of justice, our own administration of justice.”
CCJ President Justice Adrian Saunders said the court received a total of 25 applications for the vacancy, mostly from the Caribbean, following which five were shortlisted – one being from Trinidad and Tobago.
“It is only because this particular candidate was the best of the lot that we interviewed, that we selected him. But I thought that it was not a bad thing at all that he hailed from Nigeria, he’s been naturalised a Canadian, he’s had his experience as President of the International Court of Justice, that he brings a certain level of experience and wealth of knowledge and wisdom to the court.”
Justice Eboe-Osuji received his PhD degree from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, his LLM degree from McGill University in Canada; and also received his LLB degree from the University of Calabar in Nigeria.