Anguilla, home of the Regional Law Revision Centre, is continuing to attract more course participants and handle the consolidation and publishing of laws for various islands.
The Centre, which originally received start-up funding from the Department for International Development (DFID), an arm of the UK Government, is now in need of additional funding to finance its work. Governor Tim Foy, OBE, has pledged to assist in realising that funding.
He was at the time addressing the closing ceremony marking the completion of one of the regular Law Revision courses on Friday, March 23, attended by participants from Belize and Trinidad. “I think the first thing is to congratulate you on your ten years of operation” the Governor told Ms. Yolande Dash, Manager and Legislative Publisher of the Centre. “It is no mean feat to get through ten years when you are trying to get some funding from one year to the next, not sure whether you can sustain [the Centre], and what commitments you can make…
“I promise to make my level best to get some more funding from either the Commonwealth or from DFID to continue this work. I know it is critical because, prior to coming here, I spent seven years in our Home Office in the UK where I saw the importance of the consolidation and revision of legislation to make sure it is clear, assessable and understandable.”
Governor Foy was pleased to have met the course participants and offered his best wishes to them.
Attorney General, Mr. John McKendrick, QC, and the Anguilla-based Director of the Regional Law Revision Centre, stressed that even for an experienced lawyer it was difficult to quickly understand what the laws were unless they were revised and consolidated. He said clear, accessible, strong and readily apparent laws were all the more important in the Caribbean and Commonwealth jurisdictions which the Regional Law Revision Centre serves.
He continued: “Out Tenth Anniversary Conference will be held in Montserrat on the 3rd and 4th of July, and I think it will be a great event and celebration of ten years of success of Ms. Dash’s leadership of the Centre. I think it will be highly instructive for delegates from all over the Caribbean, and we hope from other Commonwealth jurisdictions, to attend. We are advertising it widely through the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and our contacts with the Rule of Law Division at the Commonwealth Secretariat, through the Caribbean Court of Justice, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and other friends and partners. We are really hoping to have a very good event with exciting speakers and dynamic presentations.”
The certificate presentation ceremony was chaired by Ms. Dash. “Since 2009, the Centre has successfully conducted this programme,” she said. “On this occasion we are honoured to have members from Belize and Trinidad and Tobago and we would like to thank Caribbean IMPACT Justice, a regional justice reform project (being funded by the Canadian Government), for sponsoring the participants.
“Over two days we have discussed the consolidation process. Although the consolidation exercise may seem such a simple task, it can quickly become a nightmare if not undertaken correctly. This programme focuses on the consolidation process and the implementation of techniques that contribute to the production of a cost-effective, high-quality publication of the revised edition of laws. The consolidation of laws programme [in Anguilla] is the only one available in the region that provides such an in-depth knowledge of the process – as very little information has been written on the topic.”
The training workshop was conducted at the Law Revision’s new office, now located at the Five Mar Building in The Quarter, on March 22 and 23.
There were four participants from the Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel in Trinidad and Tobago as follows: Ms. Stacy-Lee Daniell; Ms. Dharlene Smith; Ms. Kimberley Superville; and Ms. Megan Doyle. The two participants from Belize were: Ms. Kesha Young; and Ms. Donna-Marie Neaves-Rostant, both of the Belize Central Bank. Ms. Neaves-Rostant spoke on behalf of the participants. They were presented with certificates, by the Governor, signed by the Attorney General.
The Law Revision Centre in Anguilla was established to maintain regular publication of accurate and accessible laws for the Overseas Territories of Montserrat, Anguilla, the Turks & Caicos Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and other Caribbean states.
