The Caricom Secretariat’s Office of the General Counsel recently hosted a three-day regional capacity-building workshop for member states on treaty law and practice in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The course was organized in collaboration with the United Nations (UN) Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs, a press release from the Secretariat said. It was held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General’s office of St Vincent and the Grenadines from July 15-17.
The UN Secretary-General has identified the consolidation and the advancement of the rule of law at the national and international levels as among the Organisation’s most important goals and this training served to further that goal by bringing together officials of the ministries of foreign affairs and justice, private practitioners as well as judges and attorneys general.
Judith Jones Morgan, Attorney General of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Cheryl Thompson-Barrow, General Counsel, Caricom and Annebeth Rosenboom, Chief of the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs, representing the UN, were among those who delivered opening statements at the seminar.
General presentations were given on international treaty law, participation in multilateral treaties and the depositary practice of the UN Secretary-General, the registration of treaties under Article 102 of the UN Charter and reservations and declarations by officials of the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs. Caricom institutions, final clauses of treaties, the implementation of treaties in domestic law, and the Secretariat’s practice on registration and depositary matters were covered by Secretariat officials and other specialists in treaty law and practice from the Region.
The final day of the workshop focused on discussing future plans for the Community with respect to treaties and requests from the UN family of offices and programmes that could assist member states to implement treaties on the domestic level, in collaboration with the Secretariat.
