Guyana will launch the Model Guidelines for Sexual Offence Cases in the Caribbean on Monday November 13, 2017. Guyana is the third country to launch the Guidelines and follows Barbados and Belize which were the first two countries respectively to launch the Guidelines.
The launch is hosted by the Judicial Reform and Institutional Strengthening (JURIST) Project in collaboration with the judiciary of Guyana and will take place at the Pegasus Hotel Guyana in Georgetown, Guyana. The Honourable Mme. Justice Yonette Cummings Edwards, Chancellor of Guyana will officially launch the Guidelines.
Other speakers at the launch will include Her Excellency Lilian Chatterjee, High Commissioner of Canada to Guyana and the Honourable Amna Ally, Minister of Social Protection among others.
This will be followed by a sensitisation workshop for a cross section of justice sector stakeholders in the Guyana, who work along the justice chain with complainants and witnesses in sexual offence cases.
The Guidelines provide internationally accepted best practices for the management of sexual offence cases, and offer a rights-based approach to the treatment of complainants and vulnerable witnesses, including children, involved in sexual assault cases. The Guidelines form part of a comprehensive approach that seeks to address issues faced at the investigative, pre-trial and adjudicatory phases, as well as offenders’ rehabilitation and management.
