USAID/UNICEF Funds Inaugural Family Mediation Training for the OECS

Twenty-six mediators from Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) member countries have received professional training in family mediation, laying the groundwork for them to serve during family court proceedings and other disputes. 

The training workshop, the first of its kind conducted in the OECS, took place from April 3 – 7 in Antigua and Barbuda, where the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) is conducting a pilot project to establish its first family-law division in the region.

The workshop, which was jointly funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under its Juvenile Justice Reform Project and by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), was executed through the collaborative effort of the OECS Commission and the ESCS.

The training supports several provisions in the OECS model family law bills, particularly the Juvenile Justice, Maintenance and Access to Children, and Children (Care and Adoption) Acts, most of which are expected to be in force in all member states and territories by year end.

Participants benefited from practical demonstrations and presentations on key issues, including property distribution, conflict within families, and the impact of divorce on children.

The workshop is one of several family law reform initiatives on which UNICEF and USAID have collaborated in the OECS region. Other key areas include: review and development of legislation and rules of court; diversion, alternative sentencing, advocacy and public awareness; and social sector institutional support.

After completing the training, participants are expected to be certified and available to serve the courts in a range of family mediation capacities. 

Lyndel Archibald

Project Coordinator, Juvenile Justice Reform Project , OECS Commission

Tahira Carter

OECS Communications, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

Ramon Peachey

OECS Communications, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

Phillip Cupid

OECS Communications, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

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About The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

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The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is an International Organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance among independent and non-independent countries in the Eastern Caribbean. The OECS came into being on June 18th 1981, when seven Eastern Caribbean countries signed a treaty agreeing to cooperate with each other while promoting unity and solidarity among its Members. The Treaty became known as the Treaty of Basseterre, so named in honour of the capital city of St. Kitts and Nevis where it was signed. The OECS today, currently has eleven members, spread across the Eastern Caribbean comprising Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Martinique and Guadeloupe. 

Contact

Morne Fortune Castries Saint Lucia

+1758-455-6377

media@oecs.int

www.oecs.int