Three bills crafted for regional collaboration against crime – AG

• establishment of a regional forensic lab in Guyana on the cards

Three key pieces of legislation to enhance regional cooperation on crime-fighting and criminal justice have been developed by the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) legislative committee.

These bills are expected to be tabled in legislatures across the region in the coming weeks.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, disclosed during his weekly programme ‘Issues in the News’ on Tuesday evening that the legislation will be debated in Guyana’s National Assembly on Friday.

The bills are the Advanced Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record (APIPNR) Bill, the CARICOM Arrest Warrant Bill, and the Regional Security System (RSS) bill.

These bills are designed to strengthen multilateral cooperation in the region.

“This is modern legislation that will be passed in all the territories with minor changes…and we will have a slew of regional type legislation of this genre in the near future,” he explained.

Considering that the RSS bill has been passed, the organisation will be formally incorporated into the country’s enforcement architecture.

“The RSS will now become perhaps the premier regional law enforcement agency in the Caribbean, and it will be in every country. So Guyana is passing this bill that will incorporate the RSS formally into the law enforcement apparatus of Guyana, and this is being done throughout the Caribbean,” Minister Nandlall explained.

Further, the attorney general pointed to the establishment of a modern forensic laboratory in Guyana soon.

“It is a massive reform taking place at the level of the criminal justice systems across the Caribbean,” he noted.

The APIPNR bill aims to keep in a central database all passengers travelling through the region and their cargo. This information can then be shared among CARICOM member states.

Meanwhile, the CARICOM Arrest Warrant Bill will enable warrants issued in one jurisdiction to be enforced in another CARICOM country without significant legal impediment.