Leading constitutional lawyer Garth Patterson said Wednesday that the case brought before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) by a citizens group over the government’s proposed Cybercrime Bill may be “doomed to fail”, declaring that Barbados has not acceded to the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.But he also acknowledged that some of their concerns were valid.The group, Loyal Opposition, pushing for significant amendments to the legislation that they believe threatens fundamental rights, is set to present their concerns to the Washington DC-based advisory body on November 11. Though the citizen group remains hopeful that their extensive efforts will successfully influence changes to the draft law, Patterson has expressed scepticism about the case.He told Barbados TODAY that unless the government addresses the shortcomings of the bill as outlined, the challenge is unlikely to succeed.
