THE Hague Conference of Private and International Law (HCCH) opens today at the Pegasus hotel, Georgetown and will see the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) seeking to convince local stakeholders to examine several conventions that would protect the interests of children.

UNICEF deputy representative in Guyana Paolo Marchi said the confab is a follow up to the conference held here in July last year, where there was an opportunity to present and discuss 10 international instruments aimed at improving the lives of Guyanese.

According to him, the plan is to move forward by allowing stakeholders to decide which of those instruments should be prioritsed.

At a press conference at the Attorney General (AG) Chambers on Wednesday, Marchi, who was accompanied by HHCH regional representative Ignacio Goicoechea, said there are many reasons for all to work together to make the child protection instrument available to all Guyanese.

Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams said the international conference was held last year and “we introduced the world to the Hague convention.”

This time around, he said the meeting is to identify and agree on various conventions that were to be adopted by stakeholders. There will also be an implementation of procedures to accede to those conventions, he said.

Goicoechea said since the last meeting in July 2016, a number of countries have come on board including The Dominican Republic and Saudi Arabia.

He said the HHCH welcomes the initiative of the Attorney General to gather the most important stakeholders around the table to see which convention should be prioritised.

He said it is in fact a very important occasion for UNICEF as several conventions related to children will be examined. These include the Child Protection Convention, Adoption Convention and Abduction Convention, among others.
“We really encourage the country to adopt these very conventions for the protection of children rights in Guyana,” he said.

The HCCH is keen on lending support to Guyana to assist in the process to see the conventions are implemented and adopted into law in order to make it available for Guyanese.

“We will be tackling some of these conventions that have been recommended by the international Chambers of Commerce,” Goicoechea said.

AG Williams said they are hoping to engage stakeholders and provide the answers and outcomes they are looking for.

The conference will also address conventions such as the legal corporation of commerce and cross border issues. The stakeholders involved will be the Private Sector Commission and Chambers of Commerce, among others.

Last year, the conference was held under the theme, “International Family Law, Legal Cooperation and Commerce; Promoting Human Rights and Cross-Border Trade in Guyana through the Hague Conventions” ran from July 13-15.

It saw the attendance of attorneys general and judges from CARICOM countries; the wider Caribbean including Curaçao, Aruba, Turks and Caicos and the Cayman Islands and South American countries such as Brazil and Argentina.

Local stakeholders included members of the local judiciary, the Child Care Protection Agency, the Bar Associations, the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers, non-governmental organisations relating to children and the Private Sector Commission.