Principal’s Overview | 33
Dominica and funded the update of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rules. • Between April 2014 and the end of the 2021/2022 academic year, IMPACT Justice had drafted 12 model laws, all of which would have been submitted to Attorneys General in the region for their information. Of these model Bills, the Arbitration Bill and the Community Mediation Bill had been adopted by the CARICOM Legal Affairs Committee as CARICOM Bills and recommended to Member States for adoption. In addition, Barbados was considering the draft Insolvency Bill which had been prepared for its review with the involvement of judges, attorneys-at- law and others who function as trustees in insolvency matters, and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda was preparing to debate the IMPACT Justice Bill for a Sex Offender Register. Legislation and Policy Reviews: These reviews are usually undertaken before the Project commences work leading to the drafting of model legislation. During the reporting period, one policy review was undertaken, bringing the total number prepared since 2014 to 30. Assistance to Postgraduate Programmes: From its inception one of the objectives of IMPACT Justice was to increase the pool of legislative drafters in the region to assist governments in implementing their legislative agendas. To that end, IMPACT Justice created a scholarship system whereby it would share the cost of training drafters with governments by paying the tuition fees at UWI and Athabasca University in Canada, while the governments pay economic costs. IMPACT Justice sponsored 74 students (61f/13m) from most countries in CARICOM to pursue postgraduate programmes between 2014 and 2022, and by the end of the academic year, 55 had graduated (74%) 48 of whom had completed the UWI, Cave Hill programme. The Athabasca programme allows students to take courses over a period of time and therefore some of those spon- sored for that programme had not graduated by the end of the reporting period. A few had also dropped out, citing domestic and work-related problems. Law Revision – Belize and Guyana: During the reporting period IMPACT Justice also provided partial funding for the revision of selected subsidiary legislation of Belize and of selected Acts of Guyana to consolidate and
update their statute books. The work, which was ongoing at the end of the academic year was being done by the Regional Law Revision Centre in Anguilla. Improved Equitable Access by the Legal Profession and the Public to Legal Information: (A) Digitisation Projects: Before 2019, IMPACT Justice provided funding for digitising the Caribbean Law Review, the West Indian Law Journal, and indexes to laws produced under the West Indian Legislation Indexing Project (WILIP), two of which are products of the Faculty of Law Library at the Cave Hill Campus. It also funded the revamping of the CariLaw database. CariLaw is being successfully marketed by Vlex, and during the reporting period IMPACT Justice was informed that Vlex is also considering marketing the Caribbean Law Review. The only database which the Faculty of Law Library is yet to test is that of WILIP. In early 2022, IMPACT Justice commenced the digitisation of Montserrat Land Registry Records. This project was ongoing at the end of the reporting period. (B) Provision of Law Library Materials: The Project also continued the provision of key legal texts to law libraries around the region, which it had started in 2017. Some 215 legal texts were distributed to libraries such as the newly established Tapley Seaton Law Library in St Kitts and Nevis; the Attorney General of Belize for the Magistrates’ Courts; the Ministry of Justice, Jamaica; Erdiston Teachers’ College, Barbados; and the Teachers’ Training College in St Vincent and the Grenadines. By the end of the reporting period, IMPACT Justice had donated 3,793 books to libraries in the 13 countries in which it is being implemented (including Suriname). (C) Conferences: Between April 1 and September 30, 2022, IMPACT Justice hosted 3 public legal education events: a Conference on Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities held in Trinidad and Tobago on June 21-22, 2022; a Symposium on Prison Reform in the CARICOM Region held on July 5-6, 2022 in St Kitts and Nevis, and a Workshop on Magisterial Practices and Procedures held on July 14-16, 2022 in Barbados. By the end of the reporting period, IMPACT Justice had sponsored 45 public legal education confer- ences, lectures and workshops since April 2014.
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES CAVE HILL CAMPUS ANNUAL REPORT TO COUNCIL 2021/2022
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