In a significant and historic move for justice, Jason Jones, president and co-founder of the Association of Caribbean Students for Equal Access to the Legal Profession (ACSEAL) has initiated legal proceedings in the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) against the Council for Legal Education (CLE), the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) and the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), for the infringement of his rights, as a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago and a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) national, to access vocational training in the region in order to become an attorney-at-law, eligible to practice within CARICOM member states.
By agreement made among CARICOM member states, pursuant to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) and further, the Treaty establishing the Council for Legal Education, any CARICOM national can become an attorney-at-law eligible to practice in any member state, after having first obtained a University of the West Indies (UWI) or an equivalent undergraduate law degree & then completed vocational training at one of the regional law schools, e.g. the Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS). However, since 1996, holders of non-UWI law degrees have consistently been denied equal access to the regional law schools on the basis of an entrance examination fraught with discriminatory practices that seemingly contradict CARICOM’s integration principles such as the recognition and acceptance of evidence of qualifications and movement of skilled community nationals. Furthermore, all holders of UWI law degrees are granted automatic exclusive entry to the regional law schools, regardless of their degree classification.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Q95 NewsCurrent and past news stories. Archives
April 2024
Categories |