The internet has emerged as a reservoir of information and has pushed the world to evolve into a global village. Increased communication across political, social and economic barriers has created a virtual society of its own. This networked society poses considerable challenges for Internet Governance. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the institution responsible for the internet management. ICANN has been at the center of the debates over global governance of the internet. Key concerns raised in these debates involve the legitimacy of institutions as well as the participation of developed and developing nations in Internet governance.

The general frameworks within which human rights are protected in Nigeria are enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Chapter IV contains an elaborate Bill of Rights. The right guaranteed include: the rights to life, the rights to personal liberty, the rights to fair hearing and the right to freedom of movement among others. Section 42 prohibits unjustifiable discrimination on basis of “ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion.” As for penal infractions, Nigeria has two separate codes, one applying to Southern Nigeria (Criminal Code) and one applicable to Northern Nigeria (Penal Code). These provide for offences against persons, including homicides, assaults and different kinds of sexual and gender specific violations such as rape.

I must first say that I have been a book vendor for a relatively short time compared to my partner René Grullón. For 25 years prior I was an academic librarian. Hence, this paper is a collaborative effort with René who has been in the business of providing materials to university libraries for close to 15 years.

The inauguration of the Caribbean Court of Justice in April 2005 represented the culmination of aspirations in earlier years to establish a court of last resort for the Caribbean Region to replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (The Privy Council) which was and still is for most Commonwealth Caribbean jurisdictions, the final court. These aspirations were endorsed by the legal profession through the Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations (OCCBA) over thirty years ago, although the idea of such a court was not an original one having been contemplated early in the last century. The court was envisaged as a Caribbean Court of Appeal with an appellate jurisdiction hearing appeals from domestic appellate courts and an original jurisdiction to interpret regional treaties.

Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to be here with you at your convention. I will try to be as brief as possible, which is what every last speaker should do. By now, you must be really tired. Although I feel your pain, my topic, however, will not ease your pain. From some perspectives, it is one of the most metaphysical subjects human mind has devised. I will try to make it as straightforward as possible. That is what I tried to do in the description of my talk, which is printed on your program. I tried to synthesize what I would say, so that reasonable men and women could decide that the beach, the pool or the casino would be more worthwhile enterprises.