[www.inewsguyana.com] – The European Union (EU) has offered to assist Guyana in developing and implementing major reforms in the justice sector.
This commitment was made today when Jernej Videtic, the New Ambassador of the Delegation of the EU to Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and for the Dutch Overseas Countries and Territories, met with the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams and discussed ideas for the justice sector reforms that are in the pipeline.
“We are very pleased to share the areas of reform that are in line with the Human Rights aspect of everything that is done in the courts…we heard also the possibilities where the European Union could come as a development partner…where we could do more to help Guyana,” Ambassador Videtic explained.
He added that already there is a new Regional Programme called Crime and Security which is a multi-country programme that can be financed by the EU.
A regional conference on the “Abolishment of the death penalty” will be organised for November by the EU. Minister Williams is expected to attend and present Guyana’s position.
Minister Williams remarked that Guyana was appraised of the various aspects of the EU’s programme with which they can apply for loans, and which will go towards the delivery of justice and the Crime and Security Programme.
Other areas discussed at this morning’s meeting relate to the question of case backlog, the programme for the Attorney General’s Chamber as proposed in the 2016 budget, cyber-crime and the establishment of a permanent law reform commission, and law revision .
“…Cybercrime has a regimen of its own…investigators will have to understand what’s a cyber-offence, prosecutors will have to be trained and equally magistrates and judges,” Minister Williams explained.
Further, where the backlog of cases is concerned, the administration intends to utilise the constitutional provision which allows for the appointment of part-time judges.
“If we have four judges working for six months this would contribute to the ending of the backlog…the backlog could also be ended by the introduction of the new civil rules…” Minister Williams explained.
The new civil rule has a provision which will see a judge handling each case until it is ready for hearing. In this manner lengthy periods of time would not be wasted for the prosecution to deliver its case. [GINA]
EU to assist in strengthening local justice sector.
If this is true and they really want to do this for all Guyanese then they would see fit to nail some criminal lawyers. Most Guyanese knows that some judges some magistrates are on the take and in bed with their criminal lawyer buddies. If this is not the case then the criminal lawyer and his jury foreman buddy would have never got away with what they did in the murder case of innocent babies that were gunned down in their sleep in the beds at around 2 AM.