The Canada-funded `Strengthening Justice for Women, Girls, and Indigenous Peoples in Guyana project’, implemented by the Justice Education Society (JES), recently hosted training for 26 medical professionals on the proper use of sexual assault evidence collection kits, which were donated by the project to the Ministry of Health in February of this year.
A statement from the High Commission of Canada to Guyana and Suriname said that the donation, totaling 300 kits, will be utilized by medical professionals to support the work of the Guyana Police Force in addressing sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Guyana. Training in the proper use of these kits is vital to ensuring that the evidence collected can be admissible in court, the statement said.
The training was delivered by Head of the Guyana Police Force Crime Lab, Assistant Superintendent Ray Mercurius, while a legal session was delivered by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Lisa Cave and State Counsel Taneisha Saygon.
In a separate statement, the High Commission said that during a recent visit to Mabaruma, Executive Director of the Canada in the Caribbean programme, Sharon Peake and members of the development team at the Canadian High Commission, met with Commander Regional Division #1, Senior Superintendent Himnauth Sawh and his team.
The statement said that the Canadian team was accompanied by Lisa Thompson, Country Representative of JES.
Under the SGBV project, police officers, including those stationed at Mabaruma, are trained in various aspects of crime scene investigation, report writing and evidence collection as well as in gender and cultural sensitivity to improve interactions with indigenous communities.
The statement said that Sawh highlighted some of the challenges experienced with policing in the Region as well as some of the successes, while officers under his command expressed how the training has benefitted them personally as well as professionally.
