Strengthening Criminal Justice Programme aids police in solving high profile cases—Canadian High Commissioner

Sep 22, 2016 News

Canada’s High Commissioner to Guyana, Pierre Giroux has expressed satisfaction with the progress of the ‘Strengthen the Criminal Justice System in Guyana’ project. He observed that the project has aided the police in solving several high profile cases.
In a recent discussion about the project, which was launched last year, High Commissioner Giroux noted that the holistic approach to justice sector reform which has proven tremendously successful in Central America and, only halfway through in Guyana, has already helped the Guyana Police Force.
He shared that this success is largely due to two key elements— the unique Justice Education Society of British Columbia (JES) methodology which is inclusive, practice-based and includes rigorous mentoring, and the full support given by the Government and recipients.
The High Commissioner also stated that the timing of the project was fortuitous as the Coalition government came into power with a platform of change and security sector reform was a high priority.
The success rate to date has surpassed most other countries where JES has conducted similar work. “Most places in the world would still be at the information stage now, but in Guyana we are quite advanced and this is due to cooperation among all stakeholders,” he noted.
High Commissioner Giroux cautioned that sustainability planning is key to long term success. He likened the endeavour to a marathon. There is no “silver bullet” when it comes to justice sector reform, he said. The process will be long and will require great coordination of effort on the part of the donor community.
He noted, too, that the donor community in Guyana works together quite closely to harmonize their programming and priorities and they have recognized that the JES methodology gets results.
August 2016 marked one year of JES on the ground in Guyana and the midpoint of the Canada-funded project which was approved in early 2015 following a successful application by the JES to Canada’s Anti-Crime Capacity Building Programme (ACCBP).
The project, valued at CDN $750,000 (GYD $106 million), is Canada’s largest bilateral project with Guyana. The goal of the JES project is to develop the technical capacity of the police, police prosecutors, state prosecutors and magistrates to collect, analyse and present forensic evidence as a means of decreasing impunity rates.
JES is a Canadian non–profit organization with an impressive record of improving the effectiveness of justice systems in Canada and around the world. The Guyana project is being implemented in collaboration with the Ministries of Public Security and Legal Affairs, as well as the Office of the Chancellor of the Judiciary, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Guyana Police Force.
Following the diagnostic, JES submitted its successful proposal to Canada’s Anti-Crime Capacity Building (ACCBP). The ACCBP support will end in 2017.
The High Commissioner was especially pleased that the United States will be extending the project by another two years which will contribute to greater sustainability of the project. “It is my hope that the project continues for a very long time,” he said.
The ACCBP funds a number of regional security projects which benefit Guyana including the recently launched INTERPOL Project to combat human trafficking in the Caribbean and a project to strengthen the anti-money laundering systems in Central America and the Caribbean.
Canada is also working to strengthen national justice systems in the region, by sharing Canadian expertise, improving access to and efficiency of the justice system, and providing training and mentoring programs for both police and justice officials.

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