The Social Partners want the parliamentary parties to sign the communique on crime but will not allow it to hinder progress on the wider issue of governance.
The grouping has already sent out its background paper which expands on its concepts of shared governance to which the PPP has submitted its comments and the PNCR has set out in detail its concept of shared governance.
Social Partners spokesperson Dr Peter deGroot has told Stabroek News that the views of the parties will be tabled at the next joint consultation meeting for which it is seeking a convenient date.
On the stalled discussions on the crime communique, the Social Partners say they see it as a confidence-building measure for the nation that demonstrates a unified approach to dealing with the security crisis spawned by the spate of violent crime, including armed robbery, senseless killings of civilians and law enforcement officers and kidnappings.
The grouping would like to have a document which does not impose on the proposed Security Advisory Committee (SAC) the burden of looking at the issues of police excesses and the prompt payment of compensation to victims of police excesses. The parties are at odds over the inclusion of these issues, which they want the SAC to monitor. The Social Partners say that monitoring these activities are beyond the scope of what the proposed SAC should do.
The PPP has issued a statement committing itself to the draft circulated by the Social Partners on November 8 and urging the other parties to do likewise so that it could be signed by December 31. The PNCR and the WPA have already indicated their intention not to sign a communique, which did not adequately address the interest of the nation.
The sources say that the parties could commit to strengthen the powers of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) to deal with those issues.
Chairman of the PCA, retired Chancellor of the Judiciary, Cecil Kennard, has indicated his intention to press the government to amend the legislation to provide the PCA with its own investigation unit to look into complaints about police brutality.
However, other sources say that the question of the payment of compensation would require the establishment of a tribunal to determine the necessity for compensation and the amount that should be awarded. They say too that its procedures would allow for those involved to be given an opportunity to give evidence before it.