Details

From 13 to 15 July 2016, 118 participants from 25 States and overseas territories¹, including Attorneys General and Ministers of Justice, Chief Justices, Judges, Representatives from Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Child Protection Authorities, the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), the Caribbean Court of Justice, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, NGOs, academics and practitioners, met in Georgetown, Guyana, to discuss the work of the HCCH and the relevance of some of its core Conventions and instruments to Guyana and the wider Caribbean Region.

The meeting was jointly organised by the Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Attorney General's Chambers of Guyana, UNICEF Guyana, and the HCCH. It built on the Conclusions and Recommendations adopted by the first Caribbean meeting that took place in Bermuda (May 2012) and the second meeting held in Trinidad and Tobago (June 2015).

One of the positive outcomes of the meeting was new designations to the International Hague Network of Judges that were announced by Barbados, Bermuda, the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Turks and Caicos (as well as the announcement of ongoing considerations for Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten).

The Conclusions and Recommendations of the meeting are available here.

Other documents related to the meeting, including presentations and links to the specialised sections for the Conventions and Instruments discussed can be accessed below.

Guyana Meeting Documents

• Agenda
• List of participants
• Presentations
• The HCCH: Its Mandate, Main Achievements and Relevance for the Region.
  Dr Christophe Bernasconi, Secretary General, Hague Conference on Private International Law.
• The Hague Convention On the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
  Judge Cathy Hollenberg Serrette, 7th Judicial Circuit, Maryland, US
• Building an International Child Protection System & The Hague 1996 Child Protection Convention.
  Mr. Ignacio Goicoechea, Representative for Latin America, Hague Conference on Private International Law.
• Application of The Hague Convention of 1993 on adoption by Haïti.
  Me Andolphe E. D. Guillaume - Gestionnaire de Projets, Haïti, Central Authority for the Hague 1993 International Adoption Convention.
• Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention: A General Overview.
  Ms Valerie Barlow, United-States, Central Authority for the Hague 1993 Intercountry Adoption Convention.
• The Hague Convention of 23 November 2007 on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance and its Protocol On the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations.
  Professor Juan José Obando, University of Costa Rica, American Association on Private International Law.
• International Family Mediation. Central Contact Points.
  Mr. Ignacio Goicoechea, Representative for Latin America, Hague Conference on Private International Law.
• The Bahamas Experience. The Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters.
  Ms. Jewel Major, Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs, The Bahamas, Central Authority for The Hague 1965 Service Convention.
• The Brazilian Implementation of The Hague Conventions. Sâmia Albuquerque. Brazilian Ministry of Justice. National Secretariat of Justice Department of Assets Recovery and International Legal Cooperation Head of Division for International Legal Cooperation in Civil Matters.
• The Apostille Convention and the e-APP. Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents.
  Dr Christophe Bernasconi, Secretary General, Hague Conference on Private International Law.
• Choice of Court Agreements. Professor Calvin A. Hamilton, FCIArb, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies, Barbados.

Specialised Sections

Child Protection

• Adoption
• Abduction
• Child Support
• Protection of Children

Legal co-operation, litigation and commercial law

• Access to Justice
• Apostille
• Choice of Court
• Evidence
• Service
• Choice of Law in Contracts

^{1.Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Netherlands, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United Kingdom, United States of America; Representatives for Intergovernmental Organisations (IGOs): Caribbean Court of Justice, Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Commonwealth Secretariat, Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba}