Justice Arif Bulkan, a national of Guyana, has been selected by the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC) – the independent body responsible for recruiting staff and judges for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) – to join the CCJ as a Judge.
A release from the Court said he will fill the vacancy created by the elevation of the Honourable Justice Winston Anderson to the presidency of the Court on 4 July 2025.
Justice Bulkan holds a Bachelor of Laws from The University of the West Indies; a Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School; a Master of Laws from University College London; and a Doctor of Philosophy in Law from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada.
He has worked both regionally and internationally and, over the course of his career, has served in various capacities including as litigator, academic, author, activist, judge, and international law expert.
Justice Bulkan was admitted to the Bar in Guyana in 1990 and thereafter practised law at the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from 1990 to 1996, rising to the rank of Assistant DPP. He was in private practice from 1997 to 2004.
He sat on the Court of Appeal of Guyana in 2018 and, since May 2022, has served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal of Belize.
Between 2008 and 2022, Justice Bulkan taught in the Faculty of Law at The University of the West Indies. He was also an expert member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, serving as one of the Committee’s Vice-Chairpersons from 2019 to 2022.
In June 2023, he was elected to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for a four-year term and is currently serving as the Commission’s Second Vice-President.
