The Judicial Reform and Institutional Strengthening (JURIST) Project will participate in the UNDP’s Caribbean Regional Judges’ Consultation on Assessment of Needs in the Criminal Justice System in the Caribbean which will be held on November 7, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
In order to determine how best UNDP can add value to current efforts and initiatives on improving the justice system in the Caribbean, the UNDP Offices of Barbados and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Belize, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago, with technical support from the UNDP Regional Hub in Panama, are currently producing a Needs Assessment Report on the judiciaries in the Caribbean, covering Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago.
This one-day consultation will focus on the identification of areas of strength and weaknesses of the judiciaries in participants´ countries in order to inform the data collection and fieldwork for the assessment. This will as usual be followed by a country mission to validate any findings, where UNDP will have the opportunity of requesting an audience with participating judges as well as with other relevant stakeholders identified during the course of the consultation.
The consultation will be in a round-table format with participants asked to highlight their own challenges, needs and recommendations in specific areas related to the criminal justice system in their jurisdictions.
Participants will include judges from the following English-speaking Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. Key civil society organizations (CSOs) and regional justice experts from the region will also be invited.
