Guyana’s first drug treatment court underway

Aug 29, 2020 News

Guyana will soon be the beneficiary of a specialized Juvenile Drug Treatment Court which will seek to provide rehabilitative services to petty offenders, rather than have them incarcerated.
Under the leadership of the Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards, with committed support of the Chief Justice (ag) Roxanne George-Wiltshire, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, Magistrates and the Registrar of the Supreme Court, along with the committed support of UNICEF, the court will compliment Guyana’s only existing Drug Treatment Court that was launched last year.
The new Juvenile Drug Treatment Court will extend the range of specialised areas – already offered by the courts – that is for family matters, children and sexual offences, and will be essential to complementing the framework on Juvenile Justice and previous work initiated on drugs in schools.
It is expected that support for the specialised services, which will be needed, will be maintained by the Judiciary and UNICEF, which will continue to prioritise all efforts for Guyana’s children and youth.
Further, the judiciary, with the staunch support of UNICEF and its partners, has continued to support the access to specialised services for children and youth – especially during COVID-19.
To this end, through a partnership with the Regional Democratic Council, Region 4, and the Regional Health Officer (Region 4), Community Health Workers continue to be placed at key access points within the compounds of the courts to help with prevention/ infection of the virus.
Additionally, the Judiciary continues to build the capacity of the Sexual Offences Courts (in Georgetown, New Amsterdam and Suddie) and the Family Courts through support to training and essential supplies to ensure that there is continued access to justice.

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