The Justice Education Society (JES) of British Columbia, Canada has held discussions on an upcoming project which seeks to empower women and girls.
A JES team recently paid a courtesy call on Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn and Permanent Secretary, Mae Toussaint Jr. Thomas at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
According to a press release from the Ministry, the visiting delegation discussed strengthening justice for women, girls and Indigenous Peoples in Guyana. The JES team was led by CEO Sonia Poulin, supported by the Canadian High Commission. The two sides discussed the upcoming project at the Ministry’s Secretariat which is aimed at promoting greater equality and access to justice for women and girls throughout Guyana, and in particular to empower Indigenous women and girls to be less vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).
The project will focus on building the technical capacity of Justice actors to respond to sexual and gender-based violence targeting women and girls through training and assistance for the Guyana Police Force (GPF), Director of Public Prosecutions Office (DPP), and the Judiciary; for remote indigenous populations, where lack of access to justice is a principal concern, especially for women and girls.
The project will involve a pilot project to build the capacity of Indigenous women and leaders (National Toshaos Council), women’s groups and civil society organizations to deliver gender-transformative and rights-based public legal education, and to strengthen remote Police detachments, responding to SGBV against women and girls.
JES is a Canadian non-profit organization with over 30 years of experience in advancing the rule of law by empowering people to access and deliver justice, promoting public legal education and information and strengthening justice institutions in Canada and globally. The JES has implemented criminal justice reform projects and provided technical support and expertise in over 28 projects in 17 countries, including Guyana since 2015.
Philip Jakob, International Program Director- JES, Lisa Thompson, Country Representative-JES, Tariq Williams Project Team Leader for Global Affairs Canada and a team from the Ministry were also present at the discussion.
