Chief Justice Ivor Archie has noted that judicial officers are facing increasing public scrutiny over their decisions and conduct.
Archie made the statement while addressing judicial officers at the opening of the ninth biennial meeting of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute (CJEI) at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port-of-Spain on Friday.
“The fact is we do not exist in isolation...Judges are being drawn into sensitive social issues and we are coming under increased attacks by the media,” he said.
Archie, himself the subject of a series of newspaper articles on unproven misconduct allegations, called on his colleagues to pay attention to personal biases when adjudicating on cases.
“A judge who realises that before listening to a case, he may have a natural bias in mind, is more likely to make a conscious effort to be impartial and dispassionate,” Archie stated as he noted that judges were not “dehumanised instruments of infallible logic.
Archie said judges should engage in constant self-examination especially when presiding on cases dealing with controversial social issues.
“We must recognise how serious issues like discriminatory behaviour are and how adverse perception of personal prejudice can be to public confidence,” he said.
Archie also predicted that there would be an increase in cases dealing human rights and discrimination.
“That is the inevitable consequence of changes in societal values,” Archie said as he referred to the recent ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) which struck down Guyana’s cross-dressing law as unconstitutional.
His comment was in keeping with the topics being discussed at the conference, which included the human rights of persons with mental disabilities, gender equality and climate change. Canadian High Commissioner Carla Hogan Rufelds, in her address, encouraged judicial officers to be the catalyst of positive change in their respective countries.
“As judicial officers, you are at the forefront of policy formation and implementation,” Rufelds said as she suggested that they share information to reform their judiciaries.
Rufelds also noted that her country had donated millions of dollars to assist in judicial reform and human rights programmes within the region.
The most recent was at the T&T Film Festival in September when it sponsored three short films related to Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Gay, Transgender, Queer and Inter-sex (LGBTQI) rights.