Guyana shares expertise on handling sexual offences with Antigua & Barbuda

The launch of a two-day virtual Knowledge Exchange Workshop between the Sexual Offences Courts of Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda was held on Friday.
In attendance were Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards; Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George; Head of Cooperation at the High Commission of Canada to Guyana, Jessica Teasdale, other Judges and justice stakeholders from across the Caribbean Region.
During her remarks, Teasdale acknowledged Canada’s long and productive partnership with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Governments in justice reform. She also reiterated Canada’s commitment to promoting gender justice and continued advocacy and strengthening of the justice system to address sexual and gender-based violence in the Region.
The workshop will continue on Wednesday via Zoom and will include presentations on the Model Guidelines for Dealing with Sexual Offences Model Court (SOMC); the establishment, and functioning of sexual offences courts, and the difference the Sexual Offences Model Guidelines (SOMG) can make to the complainant’s experience in each jurisdiction. It will include key stakeholder participation from both jurisdictions and elsewhere in the Region.
The workshop aims to connect the Antigua and Barbuda SOMC and Guyana Sexual Offences Courts to enable them to share their experiences, achievements, challenges, best practices, and learnings in applying the SOMG; to further develop strategies to advance the implementation of the SOMG and sexual offence courts in each jurisdiction and in the Region; to develop knowledge products that capture lessons, strategies, and best practices, for use by the SOMC, the Guyana Sexual Offences Courts, and other jurisdictions in the Region.
The workshop is being facilitated by the Government of Canada’s Judicial Reform and Institutional Strengthening (JURIST) Project and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Guyana’s final court of appeal.
The JURIST Project is a multi-year (2014-2023) regional Caribbean judicial reform initiative funded under an arrangement with the Government of Canada. The Project is being implemented on behalf of Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and the Conference of Heads of Judiciary of Caricom by the CCJ, which was appointed by the Conference as its Regional Executing Agency (REA).
The JURIST Project commenced activities on April 1, 2014, after the signing of a Contribution Arrangement between the CCJ and GAC. The Government of Canada is providing CAD19,400,000 while the CCJ as the executing agency and other regional partners will contribute CAD1,441,689 and CAD2,883,327 respectively.
The Project is working with judiciaries in the Region to support their own efforts to improve court administration and strengthen the ability of the courts and the judiciaries to resolve cases efficiently and fairly. It is being implemented in at least six countries and will be expanded to include other territories in the Region.
The Project is also building the capacity of regional trial and appellate courts, including the CCJ, to facilitate the deepening of economic integration and improve court governance, case flow management, and the timeliness of case disposition.
According to the JURIST Project, the enhancement of fair and efficient case disposition will improve the quality of justice delivery, inspire public confidence in the justice system, foster gender equality throughout the courts, and make the Region more attractive to foreign and domestic investment.