Georgetown: A team from the Canadian Justice Education Society (JES) visited Guyana recently to conduct training sessions for officials in the justice sector.
The sessions were aimed at strengthening Guyana’s justice system to respond to the challenges that are emerging as a result of development, technology and judicial reform.
According to Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr Nicole Giles, the JES’s aim for visiting Guyana is to improve Guyana’s justice system from the ground up.
This means that training was provided from the point of investigation of a crime to the point of the delivery of justice at the court system.
During a reception held at the residence of the Ambassador recently to mark the end of the visit, Giles explained that police officers were taught on how to effectively gather evidence to ensure the successful prosecution of an offender.
Lawyers and judges present at the event expressed gratitude for the Canadian Embassy’s initiative. Among those present, Chief Magistrate at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, Magistrate Judy Latchman and Magistrate Ann McLennan.
Also Present was Speaker of the House Rapheal Trotman and Justice William Ramlall.
Among the courses to be offered: strengthening Justice Systems Core Training, Special Investigative methods Training Courses, Specialised Training and others.
The JES mission is to build stronger communities by promoting understanding of, access to, and confidence in justice systems, at home and abroad.
The JES develops programmes based on Canadian best practices and in full collaboration with local partners, to understand recipient country’s contexts, from project inception to completion.
The JES team consisted of Executive Director Rick Craig and the honourable Judge Michael Hicks who arrived in Guyana on January 25, and launched into two full days of meetings with representatives from Guyana’s criminal justice system including law enforcement, the judiciary and the courts.
The three-day seminar was entitled “Strengthening the Guyana Criminal Justice System”.
Over the years there have a numbers of cases where cases were thrown out of court because evidence may have been tampered with or their many be insufficient evidence among other probable causes.
It is expected that the JES would be able to assist in this aspect to ensure justice is served.
Craig who served in the JES as the Director since its inception in 1989 was very excited to have ventured to Guyana to aid in the justice system and is adamant that Guyana’s justice system can be significantly improved by hard work.
Craig has over 35 years of experience in international development and has worked on the justice sector development, human rights. Community/sector development (unions) and the international legal education projects in other countries in South America, Philippines, Bangladesh among others.
Craig stressed that a “collective approach” was necessary. The seminar involved stakeholders from the criminal justice system and was jointly coordinated by the High Commission of Canada and the Embassy of the United States of America, under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative.
Scores of legal persons turned out to the reception along with members of the Guyana Police Force, more specifically, police prosecutors.
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