Baroness Scotland to attend CFATF International Judges and Prosecutors Conference

DPI, GUYANA, Friday, April 27, 2018

The Rt. Hon. Patricia Scotland, QC, Secretary-General, Commonwealth will be delivering remarks at the opening of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) Judges and Prosecutors Conference to be hosted in Guyana from May 3-5, 2018.

The British barrister, who is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom (UK) and Dominica, served in ministerial positions within the UK Government, most notably as the Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland.

She was elected to the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to serve as the 6^th Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations and took office on April 1, 2016. Baroness Scotland is the first woman to hold the post.

Trained as a lawyer, Baroness Scotland became the first black woman to be appointed as Queen’s Counsel in 1991. At 35 years of age, she was also the youngest woman ever to be made a QC.

The first black woman to be appointed Deputy High Court Judge, Recorder and Master of Middle Temple. She joined the House of Lords in 1997 as Baroness Scotland of Asthal going on to serve as a minister in the Foreign Office, Home Office and Lord Chancellor’s Department.

Her other achievements include the undertaking of the major reform of the criminal justice system, including the introduction of the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act.

Appointed Attorney General in 2007, she was also the first woman to hold the post since it was created in 1315.

Other offices held by the Baroness include Chancellor of the University of Greenwich, Patron of the Corporate Alliance Against Domestic Violence, Patron of Lifeline (Trinidad & Tobago) and the Caribbean Science Foundation.

Judges and prosecutors from the twenty-five countries are expected to attend the three-day conference. The conference will be dedicated to workshop exercises and discussions on CFATF’s mutual evaluation reports, investigative orders, prosecution and management of money laundering cases, international cooperation among others.

 

By: Stacy Carmichael

Editor’s Note:

CFATF: Is an organisation of countries and territories in the Caribbean Basin that have agreed to implement common counter-measures against money laundering. CFATF has associate status within the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering.