EU offers support to Guyana’s justice, security sectors

Head of Delegation of the European Union in Guyana, Ambassador René Van Nes, during a meeting with Guyana’s Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC, has expressed an interest in supporting Guyana’s justice and security sectors through various programmes offered by the EU and its agencies.

During the engagement with the Attorney General on Friday, February 24, Ambassador Nes updated the AG on the El Pacto 2.0 Programme, into which Guyana can tap. It supports the implementation of the Regional Team Europe Initiatives for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) on justice and security.
Ambassador Nes explained that the programme intends to consolidate and strengthen LAC regional and EU-LAC bi-regional structures and mechanisms for cooperation on justice and security matters; strengthen the LAC’s overall rule of law environment and the criminal justice institutions’ capacity to fight against transnational organised crime; and has a focus on women and youth-specific concerns.
In addition, it addresses specific challenges of transnational criminal markets of LAC organised crime, namely: trafficking in drugs, arms, human beings and cultural goods; environmental and cyber-crimes.
Further, Ambassador Nes informed the AG of the support to the effective administration of the criminal justice systems in the Caribbean programme, which aims to modernise and strengthen the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) participating countries’ court systems, processes, and services; and to train and equip judicial officers and court staff with skills and competencies necessary to deliver justice in a fair, transparent, efficient and timely manner.
This project intends to support the judicial reform agendas of participating countries by building the capacity of trial and appellate courts, including the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), to improve court governance, customer-focused services, case flow management, and case disposition.
Additionally, Ambassador Van Nes pledged technical support on various matters.
Minister Nandlall thanked the Ambassador for his visit, and expressed appreciation for the significant role the EU has played in Guyana, especially during the protracted five months following the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.
The Attorney General also briefed the Ambassador on the legislative amendments and other measures that have been implemented to prevent electoral transgressions. Those measures take into consideration the recommendations of the EU Election Observation Mission.