International Society of Family Law 4th Caribbean Regional Conference
The Convention on the Rights of the Child at 35 years
“The Promise Kept “or “A Dream Deferred”?
Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre
November 13th - 15th 2024
The Convention on the Rights of the Child at 35 years :“The Promise Kept “or “A Dream Deferred”?
TRINIDAD HILTON AND CONFERENCE CENTRE, Port of Spain, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
This unique upside down hotel with breathtaking views of the city is waiting to welcome you to the International Society of Family Law (ISFL) 4th, Caribbean Regional Conference on November 13- 15, 2024.
Theme of the Conference: “The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) at 35 years. A Promise Kept or ‘A Dream Deferred’?”
On the momentous occasion of the 35th anniversary of the CRC, delegates to this 4th ISFL Caribbean Regional Conference will commemorate this event with an exciting conference to be held in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
During the conference, participants will discuss the challenges States face in implementing the CRC, the gains made as States strive to fulfil their obligations under the CRC, assess those duties yet to be met, the dire consequences for such omission and share innovative ideas used to fulfil the promise made to grant to all children the human rights to which they are entitled.
While enjoying the ambience of a tropical climate and feasting on delicious exotic fare that excite the tastebuds, participants at this conference will have their intellect stimulated by a diverse group of child rights advocates from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and various islands of the Caribbean who will meet and discuss violations of child rights in the home, the education system, the welfare system, in foster care, the community and the child justice system. Age old problems of child physical, sexual and psychological abuse will be discussed alongside emerging problems of migrant and refugee children, internet crimes, trafficking in children, cybercrimes and threats from destruction of the environment. Solutions, including restorative practices, will be proffered in an attempt to solve some of the problems.
But it is not all work, for when evening comes and we have enjoyed a sumptuous dinner, steelband music and calypsos and music from other genres, will fill the air. When the final curtain falls on the conference stage, we will know that we have moved closer to the day, when child rights will no longer be “a dream deferred,” but have become a reality for all children.
About
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (“the CRC”) is the most widely and rapidly ratified human rights treaty in history. It was adopted by the U. N. General Assembly on November 20, 1989. On that date, James Grant, then Executive Director of UNICEF, described the CRC as a “Magna Carta for child rights.” Professor Emeritus Michael Freeman, in his book, “A Magna Carta for Children? Rethinking Children's Rights,” analysed Grant’s assessment of the CRC.
What's New
This year is the 35th anniversary of the CRC. A milestone anniversary is an opportune time to examine the influence of the CRC on States’ laws, principles, practices and procedures, discuss the challenges States face in their efforts to implement the CRC, innovative solutions created to overcome these challenges and the work yet to be done to realize the dream of international human rights of children
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
The Scientific Committee shapes the agenda, advises on key topics, and selects speakers.
Chairman
Senator Hazel Thompson-Ahye H.B.M.
Independent Senator Hazel Thompson-Ahye, Convener of the ISFL 4th Caribbean Regional Conference, former school teacher, attorney-at-law, mediator, children and women’s rights advocate and restorative practices trainer, chairs the Scientific Committee. She obtained LLB.Hons.from the University of the West Indies and LLM Merit in Family Law from London University and M.S. in Restorative Practices from the International Institute of Restorative Practices. She served on the Boards of the Children’s Authority, the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority, Police Complaints Authority, St. Dominic’s Children’s Home, Cathedral and UWI Credit Unions, the Committee to review the first Domestic Violence Act and the Child Protection Task Force for reform of the child protection laws. She was Coordinator of the Caribbean Coalition for the Abolition of Corporal Punishment of Children, is a member of Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Commonwealth Lawyers Association, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts and a Vice-President of the International Society of Family Law (ISFL) She was Director of the Hugh Wooding Law School Legal Aid Clinic in Trinidad and Tobago for fourteen years and Senior Tutor at Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas for ten years. In 2001, she received an award for service to the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority, in 2002, a gold Medal for service as founder of Holy Trinity Parish Legal Advice Clinic, in 2012, an award for outstanding service to the Council of Legal Education, in 2018, the Hummingbird Medal Gold, for loyal and devoted service to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and in 2022, an Award for Exceptional Service to ISFL. She is a Member of the Scientific Committee for the World Congress on Justice with Children carded for Madrid, Spain in June, 2025. She has published in the West Indian Law Journal, the International Survey of Family Law, the Lawyer, and other journals and over the last 35 years has presented over 125 papers and conducted workshops in her areas of interest in more than 20 countries.
Member
The Honourable Justice Maureen Rajnauth-Lee
Justice Maureen Rajnauth-Lee was appointed a Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (the CCJ) in 2015. She previously served as a Justice of Appeal in the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago. This certified Mediator and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators is a founding member and former Vice-President of the Caribbean Association of Women Judges and the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Women Judges, and has been installed Patron of both Associations. She chaired the Sexual Offences Advisory Committee appointed under the JURIST Project to provide support for the development of the Sexual Offences Model Guidelines for the Caribbean Region (revised in 2022) and for the establishment of a Sexual Offences Model Court in Antigua and Barbuda. She also chaired the Committee which developed a Harassment Policy for the CCJ and the RJLSC, and is at present chairing the Committee which is tasked with developing a policy which will seek to improve access to justice and provide accommodations for persons with disabilities at the CCJ and the RJLSC. In 2018, Justice Rajnauth-Lee was honoured as an Outstanding Alumna of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. Along with her colleague, Justice Winston Anderson, Justice Rajnauth-Lee co-chaired the Pioneering Caribbean Women Jurists Project, which produced a book and several videos highlighting the extraordinary lives of thirty-four Eminent Caribbean Women Jurists.
Member
The Honourable Justice Halcyon Yorke-Young
Called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1992 and the Bar of Trinidad and Tobago in 1995. Justice Halcyon Yorke-Young brings a wealth of experience in family law to her position in the Family Court, Tobago. Justice Yorke-Young has been a member of the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago for the past twenty-four years, serving first as a Magistrate presiding on primarily family matters, as a Master at both the Children and Family Courts, and now as a Family Court Judge. She is a member of the International Society of Family Law and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. Justice Yorke-Young is a Certified Mediator for both family and civil matters, and the holder of a Masters Degree (Merit) in Family Law. Other professional memberships include the International Association of Women Judges, the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers, the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association and the Association of Female Executives of Trinidad and Tobago. She was twice honoured by the President for her service as Chairperson of the Port of Spain District Scout Council for ten years. She is a member of the Executive Council of St. Joseph’s Convent Past Pupils Association and the Marionettes Chorale. This mother of three is an active member of her church community.
Member
Professor Robin Fretwell Wilson
Robin Fretwell Wilson is the Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Chair in Law at the University of Illinois College of Law in the United States. Professor Wilson co-directs the College of Law’s Epstein Health Law and Policy Program and co-directs and founded its Family Law and Policy Program. She specializes in family law and health law, and her research and teaching interests also include biomedical ethics, law and religion, children and violence, and law and science. Professor Wilson leads the Abortion Exceptions and Misconceptions Initiative at the University of Illinois College of Law with the student team comprised of Madelyn Bird, Michael Cerota, Saraf Choudhury, Daniel Donovan, Alexandra Frisch, Joshua Livingston, Anxhela Ndrio, Mai Nguyen, Sara Jane Peal, April Platt, Jafrin Pritha, Shreyas Shastri, and Riley Uremovic.
Member
Master Sydelle Johnson
Master Sydelle Johnson, graduate of the University of the West Indies and Hugh Wooding Law School. She obtained a certificate in Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women from the U.N. Graduate Study Programme in Geneva and her LLM with Merit in Human Rights Law from London University. She obtained a one-year fellowship with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at the O.A.S in Washington D.C and was an adult volunteer with the Court- Annexed Peer Resolution Programme at the Children Court of Trinidad and Tobago. She is a certified Mediator in Family Matters and Civil (Non-Family) Matters. Master Johnson was a Family Law Tutor at the Hugh Wooding Law School and has presented on issues pertaining to Human Rights, inclusive of child rights, refugee rights and sexual orientation and has written articles on those topics. Master Johnson was in private practice for nine years, honing her skills as a Family Law advocate, and expanding on her knowledge base in Human Right Law. In 2019, she joined the judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago as an Assistant Registrar and Deputy Marshall and in January 2021, was promoted to her current position of Master at the High Court Family and Children Division. She has a passion for continuous learning and education and participated in the development of the JUST Connect, a virtual judicial education platform and is a board member of the Judicial Education Institute of Trinidad and Tobago and a Fellow of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute.
Christie-Anne Morris-Alleyne CM. DEC, LLB, LEC, ICM Fellow, PMP,
Legal Services Consultant and retired Court Executive Administrator, Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago.
Master Christie-Anne Morris-Alleyne graduated from UWI in 1979 and joined the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago in 1981 as an Assistant Registrar and Deputy Marshal having been admitted to practice earlier that year. She has held the posts of Deputy Registrar and of Registrar and Marshal as well as that of Master of the High Court. She has been heavily involved in Judicial Reform since 1987 and is credited with introducing CAT Reporting to the Caribbean in 1987 and Court Information Technology to the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago in 1990. She was the first Court Executive Administrator of the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago where she founded the Department of Court Administration in 1998 and the first Court Executive Administrator of the Caribbean Court of Justice where she led the creation of the court’s systems and processes from a blank slate. She also developed and established the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers, (CAJO), conceived of and developed the Caribbean Academy for Law and Court Administration (CALCA, now CAL), the CCJ Mooting Programme and the JURIST Project.
Together with then Chief Justice de la Bastide, Master Morris-Alleyne began judicial education programmes in Trinidad and Tobago in 1996 and with Mr Anthony Durrant, later founded the Judicial Education Institute of Trinidad and Tobago. She has been a member of several Cabinet Appointed Committees including the Gurley Committee, the Caribbean Justice Improvement Project and Committees to review Children Laws and to create the Children’s Authority, the Family Court Committee, and the Digital Transformation Advisory Committee.
She worked jointly with the United Nations Development Programme, USAID and the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago as the Head of the Juvenile Court Project which created the Children Court, having previously led the creation of the Family Court.
Master Morris-Alleyne was honoured by the public service as one of the Fifty Most Outstanding Public Servants in the first 50 years of independence and awarded The Chaconia Medal Silver in 2019 and was Recognised as a UWI Distinguished Alumni in 2023.
Though Master Morris-Alleyne has worked rigorously to modernise the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago, her efforts have also extended to the wider Caribbean region and internationally. She is a member of the Board of the International Institute for Justice Excellence as well as a graduate fellow of the US Institute for Court Management of the National Center for State Courts and a certified Project Management Professional.
She has also worked with the judiciaries of the Eastern Caribbean and Jamaica in their reforms and has advised and conducted training for, the judiciaries of all Anglophile CARICOM states in their reform efforts. She has taught case flow management principles at the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute and to judges of several Commonwealth countries.
She is married to Fitzgerald Alleyne, also a UWI graduate and an attorney at law and together, they have a son, three daughters and one grandson.
She provided assistance to the Scientific Committe
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF FAMILY LAW
4th Caribbean Regional Conference
Our Sponsors
DIAMOND SPONSORS
SILVER SPONSORS
BRONZE SPONSORS
OTHER SPONSORS
- Mr. Russell Martineau C.M.T., S.C.
- Mr. Nigel Edwards, Executive Director, UTC
- Mr. Dorwin Manzano, Attorney-at- Law
