Red Thread to sign on to Hague Children’s Convention

Local Non-Governmental Organisation, Red Thread has disclosed its aim to sign on to the Hague Children’s

Convention, noting that this could lead to more strict national standards being developed in Guyana.
The Hague Children’s Convention is held in Guyana to discuss children’s rights and laws which will ensure their protection.
Red Thread Coordinator, Karen DeSouza, said the Convention stands for children’s protection, adding that there is a need for more organisations in Guyana to sign on to these conventions.
“I actually think that once we hopefully become a member of the conference, that there’d be a lot more focus and a lot more recognition and action that address child rights,” DeSouza is quoted as saying by the Government Information Agency (GINA).
Legal practitioners from across the region recently gathered in Guyana to discuss the Hague Children’s Conventions relating to family law and commerce and how they can be useful to their countries.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, President David Granger noted that the information from it could help Guyana strengthen its regulations.
“Guyana’s legal architecture relating to the protection of children and to issues of family law is far from finished. We expect that the deliberations of this conference will assist us in improving our systems,” Granger said.
Meanwhile, DeSouza said more focus needs to be placed on the implementation of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
“So one is to, I guess, push the national agencies to actually implement in a serious way what we know to be necessary, which is not happening at the moment”.
The CRC is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. Guyana ratified it in 1991.
The enforcement of the Rights of the Child Convention would then be complemented by the Hague Children’s Convention.
“The Convention simply is about enabling the national stakeholders to access the assistance of an agency that has international reach so it absolutely would be a good thing for Guyana,” she said.
The A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change Government has committed to examine ways of strengthening its human rights architecture.
Red Thread is primarily concerned with the rights of women and children. “So a lot of the times we have to network with other agencies including, Government agencies to ensure that the needs are met of anyone who comes in here,” DeSouza said.