00:00After years of legal battles, Jason Jones has secured a major victory at the highest
00:06Court of Appeal for Trinidad and Tobago.
00:08In a judgment delivered on November 10, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council allowed
00:15Jones' appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision in his challenge to Sections 13 and
00:2116 of the Sexual Offenses Act.
00:23Those provisions criminalize buggery and acts of serious indecency, including private,
00:30consensual, sexual relations between adults of the same sex.
00:35The law lords found that the provisions infringe fundamental rights protected by the Constitution,
00:41particularly the right to respect for private and family life.
00:45The judgment reads, quote, the ability to form a deep connection with another person through
00:50an intimate and loving relationship is a vital interest for all human beings, end quote.
00:56The judgment delivered by lords, sales and borrows, places that principle at the center of its
01:02reasoning.
01:03The board said the right at issue was fundamental to Jones' existence and identity as a gay man,
01:09adding that a loving relationship between two men engages the constitutional protection of
01:15family life.
01:16The judges also rejected the argument that the laws should remain in force simply because
01:21they had a long history.
01:23It reads, quote, the mere fact that a repressive law has survived from colonial times so as to
01:30be traditional in that sense plainly could not furnish a legitimate objective, end quote.
01:36The board stressed that Trinidad and Tobago's constitution must be interpreted in light of developing
01:41understandings of fundamental rights and freedoms.
01:44It also found that the attorney general had failed to provide evidence establishing a sufficient
01:50justification for maintaining the provisions.
01:53In paragraph 74, the judges concluded that the government had not identified an objective
01:59important enough to justify the limitation of a fundamental right.
02:03The ruling also addresses the constitutional savings clause, which has long complicated challenges
02:09to laws inherited from the colonial era.
02:12The private council found that sections 13 and 16 of the 1986 act were not protected as existing law
02:20under section 6 of the constitution.
02:22It further held that the provisions could not be justified under section 13, despite having been passed
02:29using a parliamentary supermajority.
02:32The board concluded that the provisions must be interpreted in accordance with the constitution
02:37so that they do not criminalize private consensual sexual relations between adults of the same sex.
02:44However, the precise remedial order remains to be finalized.
02:48The privy council has indicated that it is provisionally minded to uphold the original high court judge's remedy,
02:55while allowing further written submissions from both sides.
02:58The decision marks a significant development in the country's constitution and human rights jurisprudence
03:04following a legal challenge, first brought by Jones in 2017.
03:09Arvishita Mwari Rupnarein, TV6 News.
