Anguilla holds the unique distinction of housing the only non-for- profit law revision centre in the region. Established with financial and logistics support from the Department of International Development (DFID), of the United Kingdom government, as well as financial support from many of the Overseas Territories (OTs), the LRC was incorporated in Anguilla on January 11, 2007, and officially opened its doors on September 28, 2007.
The LRC’s Vision Statement clearly spells out its purpose and goals: “To be a dependable provider of continuous, high quality and cost effective law consolidation, law revision and training services; thus empowering the Attorneys General of Overseas Territories and Caribbean States to pursue good governance and efficient access to the law.”
Six participant from five Caribbean countries spent two intense days at the LRC receiving extensive training on the technicalities of consolidating, revising and updating laws in a shared environment facilitated through the web-based cloud. The varied home-offices of the participants highlighted the reach of this program; they came from the Law Revision Commission (St Kitts & Nevis and the Cayman Islands), the Attorney General’s Chambers (Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, British Virgin Islands), and Financial Services Commission (British Virgin Islands).
His Excellency, Governor Tim Foy , addressed the participants as follows: “Legislators make laws, and politicians talk about them, but what you are doing, and will take back to your jurisdictions, is fundamental. It’s about improving the access of law and the ability of people to get hold of information regarding laws so that they know their responsibilities, their privileges and ,that governments understand their obligations to people…It is a two-way street.” He went on to say that the revision of laws is a hard job that requires much intellect, but the result is critical information accessibility; and he ended by thanking Yolande Dash and her staff for maintaining ‘this jewel/the LRC’.
Karen Stephen-Dalton from the Cayman Islands, speaking on behalf of all the participants, thanked the government, the LRC staff and the people of Anguilla for their warm welcome and support. She singled out Yolande Dash for her passionate work which has been instrumental in starting and maintaining the programme and ensuring that her wealth of knowledge is shared throughout the region. Dalton opined: “Clearly the LRC continues to play an instrumental role in developing law revision across the region and continues to thrive. Before the Centre came into being, many practitioners across the region had great difficulty accessing the laws and all its various amendments. The center has been instrumental in producing revised editions for many countries making life for all much easier – both the practitioners and the public.”
