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Guyana advances to strengthen laws on child protection
The Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Legal Affairs, in partnership with the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Guyana, yesterday hosted a meeting aimed at having discussions on improving Guyana’s legislative framework, as it regards to children.
Three of the participants at the meeting yesterday morning at the Marriott Hotel
Guyana has been lauded for taking the lead in South America as it becomes the first country on the continent to pursue and strengthen laws and policies on child maintenance, child adoption, child abduction, and child protection.
Those areas are the subject of four conventions under the Hague Conference on Private International Law.
Implementing agency, the Ministry of Legal Affairs, yesterday held a joint meeting with HCCH and UNICEF.
According to the ministry, Guyana has continued to strengthen its efforts, following work between 2015 and 2020 on the four family-related conventions.
It said the Attorney General’s office over the past years has prioritised work on the legislative drafting for adoption convention and has worked with the Childcare and Protection Agency and other entities to ensure that the country meets its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, SC said Guyana has already agreed to several conventions. He added that the meeting would assist Guyana as it works toward the implementation of the conventions through domestic legislation once the National Assembly passes it.
“The implementation of the Hague Family Conventions will buttress the existing local legislation, to secure the protection of our children and provide for their best interest,” Williams told attendees at the meeting, which was held at the Marriott Hotel.
The AG noted that Guyana’s constitution requires that the best interest of the child must always be paramount and that the Hague Conventions allows Guyana to ensure it remains so in a changing world.
The meeting yesterday was a follow-up to two similar meetings held on the Hague Conventions – the Regional Conference on Family Law held in July 2016, and a National Consultation held in September 2017.
In July 2016, 118 participants from 25 States/overseas territories, including Attorneys General and Ministers of Justice, Chief Justices, representatives from Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Child Protection Authorities, the Hague Conference on Private International Law, UNICEF, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, NGOs, academics and practitioners, met in Georgetown, Guyana, to discuss the work of the HCCH and the relevance of some of its core Conventions and instruments to Guyana and the wider Caribbean Region.
The meeting was jointly organised by the Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Legal Affairs, UNICEF, and the HCCH. It built on the conclusions and recommendations adopted by the first Caribbean meeting that took place in Bermuda (May 2012) and the second meeting held in Trinidad and Tobago (June 2015). One of the positive outcomes of the meeting was new designations to the International Hague Network of Judges that were announced by Guyana.
The meeting also provided an opportunity for the country to reflect on how to improve its domestic and international legal architecture for children, especially as it relates to issues on international adoption, abduction and child protection.
UNICEF’s country representative Sylvie Fouet said Guyana has been leading the way in the rights of children. “To name a few, Alternative Care Policy was revised and adopted last year, revision of the adoption law is on the way and the revision of the Kidnapping Act 2011. They are also looking at the Apostille Convention, which is more related to documentation and relation with Foreign Affairs,” she said.
HCCH representative Ignacio Goicoechea also addressed the meeting while other attendees included representatives from the Guyana Police Force, the judiciary, and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
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