Justice Delayed

Published 2nd March 2007, 3:58pm

The Human Rights Committee (HRC) was recently approached to comment on whether delays in the court system due to the backlog of un-served witness summons constituted a breach of human rights.

In response, the HRC would like to note that all major international human rights treaties protect the right to liberty. This right provides for everyone arrested or detained to be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and entitles such persons to a trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial. Where release is appropriate this may be conditioned by guarantees to appear for trial.

Therefore, where witnesses summons are not properly served, thereby causing an unreasonable delay in the the trial process, this may potentially give rise to a breach of the right to liberty.

However it is important to emphasize that a breach of this right will only occur where the delay is unreasonable and each case must therefore be assessed independently. Without further facts on particular cases it is impossible at this stage to determine whether any breach has occurred.

The HRC would, however, like to take this opportunity to signal its support for the recent comments made by the Hon. Chief Justice at the opening of the Grand Court, on the 3rd January 2007, where he remarked that:

"While delays in case disposal are a fact of life in every jurisdiction, they can be tolerated only to a very limited extent before they begin to operate as a denial of justice."

With these sentiments in mind, the HRC is pleased to hear that recent efforts made by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service have reduced the number of outstanding summonses considerably in the last two weeks. However with some 860 arrest warrants still to be served, the HRC encourages that all necessary steps be taken to ensure that justice and fundamental rights are accorded the respect and protection they clearly deserve.

More information on the work of the HRC can be obtained by visiting the HRC's website at www.humanrights.ky. If you would like to contact the HRC, please address written correspondence to PO Box 30664, Grand Cayman KY1-1203 or alternatively, emails can be sent to committee@humanrights.ky.

For further information contact: Human Rights Committee