THE Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Attorney General’s Chambers, in partnership with the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Guyana, will be hosting the Hague Convention Conference next Thursday at the Pegasus Hotel.

According to Attorney-at-Law within the AG’s chambers Diane Woolford, the meeting is a follow-up to the one held last year and all stakeholders were contacted to attend the next conference this month.

She explained that the one-day meeting with stakeholders is to determine which convention should be prioritised for signature/ratification and any related issues based on the conference conclusions and recommendations that occurred in 2016.

These conventions include The Child Protection Convention, Apostile, Choice of Court and Maintenance.

Key representatives from government and civil society, including the Guyana Bar Association and Private Sector Commission are expected to attend.

Woolford said these discussions will be critical in shaping the way forward as Guyana seeks to improve its legislative framework for children and the business environment.

President David Granger had noted that Guyana has to commit to improving existing child protection laws and create the enabling environment for commerce and trade.

Guyana has already enacted laws on the status of children, child protection, adoption of children, sexual offences and custody, conduct, guardianship and maintenance.

The conference also deals with child adoption, child abduction and children’s rights.

The Hague Conference is the world organisation for cross-border co-operation in civil and commercial matters.

The organisation develops international treaties and conventions that deal with international issues involving private individuals or commercial operators and the creation of an environment that is conducive for cross-border trade, cross-border investment, cross-border commerce, the creation of legal certainty and predictability for people and operators, so that all the rules are known before participation in commercial transactions or overseas investments.

The conference is important in light of migration and abduction as well as issues affecting children worldwide.

With the recent hurricane leaving many Guyanese with losses, issues of children migration will be on the agenda.

Many children from Guyana, Suriname, Haiti and Mexico are abducted in the form of adoptions. There is a need for laws to be put in place to protect these children and the conference shows a proactive effort to put legal systems in place.

The HCCH was established in 1983 and to date has 81 member states. With the freedom to sign on to the conventions without taking up membership, the conventions have been signed by 148 states (members included).
Bernasconi has said that the benefits of becoming a member are twofold, in that Guyana can serve as a key decision-maker when new conventions are being negotiated, thereby impacting international issues; and Guyana can access the support provided by the network provided by the organisation.
Moreover, the HCCH also provides an International Hague Network of Judges, which provides direct judicial communications among the signatory states to these conventions in aiding to provide rulings and other determinations for cross-border issues.