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, will be hosting a stock-taking meeting on the HCCH Conventions at the Marriot Hotel today.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, will be present along with key representatives from the Rights of the Child and Private Sector Commissions among other agencies.

In a statement, the Attorney General’s Chambers explained that discussions on the Hague Conventions will be critical in shaping the way forward as Guyana seeks to improve its legislative framework for children.

Guyana is the first State of the Americas to be party to all HCCH Children’s Conventions. Guyana has acceded to the Apostille, Child Protection, Child Abduction, Intercountry Adoption Convention, and the Child Support Convention. The Child Support Convention will come into force in March 2020.

In 2019, through the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs and support from UNICEF and collaboration with HCCH, Guyana initiated the drafting of several key pieces of legislation to ensure that the legislative architecture is in line with the HCCH Convention.
The Legal Affairs Ministry said, however, that it has been recognised that implementation will demand actions from key stakeholders and continued technical support, pending Guyana’s membership to the HCCH. It is on that basis that the high-level stock-taking exercise is being held to help define a multi-year action plan toward both the implementation of the HCCH Conventions and the applicable articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In July 2016, 118 participants from 25 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 (HCCH), UNICEF, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, NGOs, academics and practitioners, met in Georgetown 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). The Legal Affairs Ministry explained that 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 architectures for children, especially as it relates to issues on international adoption, abduction and child protection.
Following the 2016 meeting in September 2017, local consultations were hosted to discuss and agree on the priority Conventions – including issues concerning the appointment of a Central Authority. Based on the results of this meeting, preparatory actions were initiated in 2018 and continued in 2019, which resulted in Guyana acceding to the Apostille, Child Protection, Child Abduction, Intercountry Adoption Convention, and the Child Support Convention. The Child Support Convention will come into force in March 2020.