Attorney General Basil Williams has announced that Guyana will begin implementation of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption by the start of June.
Williams made the announcement on Wednesday after meeting with US Embassy Consul General Jerome Epping and Deputy High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Guyana Ray Davidson to discuss implementation of the Hague Family Law Conventions and the adoption convention in particular.
“…It is now a question of implementing them in Guyana,” Williams told the press following the meeting, which was held at his Carmichael Street, Georgetown Chambers. “Most are becoming effective within the area [of] a month or so,” he added.
Davidson congratulated Guyana for moving forward with the implementation of the conventions and he called the meeting with Williams “extremely productive.”
“It is a great step forward. We found it [the conventions] beneficial in the UK, and my American colleagues have as well. So we are very much looking forward to working with Guyana to help in child adoption cases, child abduction cases… all the conventions really. We are looking forward to working with you,” he said.
For his part, Epping said his country would also support Guyana as it works towards the implementation of the conventions. “We congratulate Guyana on accession to the adoption convention as well as the other conventions on the rights of children… as well as the existing the apostille convention and we look forward to working with Guyana to working out the details to implement this cause,” he said.
Epping had met with Williams last year on the same matter and has been giving support while this country prepared for compliance with the conventions.
The adoption convention establishes international standards of practices for intercountry adoptions.
The Attorney General’s Chambers previously said Guyana has signed on to the Apostille Convention and the Hague Family Law Conventions, namely the Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption, Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and other forms of Family Maintenance, Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation in respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children.
“With the support of UNICEF Guyana and in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a number of efforts are already underway to assist with the implementation of the Conventions,” it explained in a statement.
“It is important to note that all the Conventions will provide a stronger framework for ease in doing business (Apostille Convention) and country-to country cooperation. The Conventions also ensure that Guyana increases its capacity (including administrative, procedural and legal) to deal with current and emerging child protection issues- example on international adoption, child maintenance and child abduction,” the statement also said.
“These new frameworks will complement the provisions in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and two of the optional protocols which Guyana is already a party. The Government of Guyana is committed to ensuring the best interests of all children are upheld and children’s rights are prioritised,” it added.
