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New bill to add another layer of protection to child safety measures in Guyana
Kaieteur News- The International Measures for the Protection of Children (Hague Convention) Bill 2024, which was read for the first time in the National Assembly on November 25, last will add another layer of protection to child safety measures in Guyana.
The proposed legislation introduced to the House by Minister of Human Services and Social Security Dr. Vindhya Persaud is expected to bring Guyana’s law on child rights in conformity with the Hague Convention on child protection which Guyana is a signatory to.
The Hague Convention establishes international standards and best practices for inter-country adoptions. The new law will particularly aid Guyanese authorities in providing better protection for children in the instances of international adoption of children.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security Dr. Vindhya Persaud.
According to the explanatory memorandum attached to the Bill, the purpose of the law is to give the Hague Convention jurisdiction, applicability, enforcement and co-operation in respect of parental responsibility and measures for the protection of children in Guyana.
This convention enables competent authorities to protect children and cooperate in a varied range of cross-border situations, offering states practical means to fulfill international obligations arising under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Article 1 of the Child Protection Convention sets out that the purpose of the Convention is to – (a) determine the competent authority to take measures directed to the protection of the person or the property of the child; (b) designate the law applicable to measures of protection and parental responsibility; (c) provide for a framework enabling the recognition and enforcement of measures of protection among contracting parties; and (d) establish a cooperation mechanism between the authorities of the contracting parties.
The Child Protection Convention applies to children from birth to the age of eighteen. It applies to a wide range of civil measures for the protection of a child and a child’s property, ranging from orders concerning parental responsibility and contact, to public measures of protection and care, as well as to matters of representation to the protection of children’s property.
In addition to other preliminary measures, Clause 4 of the Bill makes provision for the establishment of a Central Authority for the purpose of discharging the duties imposed by the Convention.
The Convention provides for authorities to be designated in each Convention country as central authorities in order to facilitate international communication and co-operation between courts and other competent authorities.
Clause 5 makes provision for the High Court to exercise its jurisdiction under the Convention to take measures directed to the protection of children. However, in exceptional circumstances a court may apply the law of another country to which the child or the child’s property is substantially connected. Clause 6 provides that the Court shall apply the laws of Guyana in exercising jurisdiction under the Convention.
Clause 7(2) provides that a measure in respect of which an order has been made shall, to the extent to which recognition or enforcement of the measure is authorised by the order, be of the same force and effect as if it were an order of the High Court.
Clause 8 deals with the registration and enforcement of measures in Guyana. It provides that a registered measure has the same effect as a measure issued in Guyana and it prevails over any prior inconsistent measure.
Meanwhile, Clause 13 enables the Rules Committee established under section 67 of the High Court, to make rules of court in order to carry out or give effect to the provision of the Act and Clause 14 enables the Minister to make regulations to give effect to the provisions of the Act.
(New bill to add another layer of protection to child safety measures in Guyana)
- Child Protection, child rights, Intentional adoptions Guyana., safety measures, The International Measures for the Protection of Children (Hague Convention) Bill 2024, was National Assembly on November 25
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