Lord Reed gives opening address at Caribbean conference
13 September 2024
This month (September 2024), president of the UK Supreme Court and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Lord Reed, joined judges and experts from across the Caribbean and North America at the Caribbean Judicial Civil Asset Recovery Conference.
The conference focused on civil asset recovery, which plays a crucial role in national and international efforts to disrupt and dismantle criminal networks and reclaim illicit assets.
Hosts, the U.S. Dept. of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and National Center for State Courts, were joined by forty senior members of the judiciary from Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, the Eastern Caribbean, Belize, and the Bahamas.
Lord Reed opened the conference alongside The Honourable Mr. Justice Adrian Saunders, President of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Lord Reed, attending in his role as President of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, said: "Bringing together the judiciary from many different countries to share expertise and discuss solutions to the challenges which we all face is very important, especially in an area of the law where international cooperation is essential.
"I hope that all the judges who took part in the conference will be able to apply best practice when adjudicating on complex cases involving criminal property.
"I found the conference very valuable and have come away with a refreshed viewpoint on how to approach these cases. It was also important for me to engage with an issue of such significance to the Caribbean jurisdictions which the Privy Council serves, and to meet so many of their judges."
Lord Reed's opening remarks can be read in full on the UK Supreme Court website: Speeches at the Supreme Court
International and regional experts from the Eastern Caribbean, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States presented on a range of topics from constitutional considerations and dealing with expert evidence to adjudicating recovery of crypto-assets.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the highest court of appeal for many Commonwealth countries, as well as the United Kingdom's overseas territories, crown dependencies, and military sovereign base areas.