Reform aid must be tied to better policing
-GHRA tells international agencies
Disturbed by the official reaction to the death of prisoner James Nelson in the Brickdam lock-up, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) yesterday called on international agencies to demand immediate improvement in the treatment of detainees as a condition for continued funding of reforms to the criminal justice system.
James Nelson
In a statement, the rights group said that along with an extensive list of unresolved serious crimes, the attitudes of the authorities have been fuelling a culture of violence that cannot be resolved by national action alone. It argued that the lack of official concern in the case of Nelson, who the police initially said injured himself, illustrates a pattern of disinterest by the disciplined services in resolving incidents of torture and death involving their personnel. This situation, the GHRA added, is being worsened by Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, whose position on crime fighting suggests indifference to whether suspects are brought to justice or unlawfully executed.
In this context, it urged international agencies – currently investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the reform of the police force and the justice system – to set as a condition “immediate improved performance” to address conditions of detention, torture and deaths in custody. “Linking continued dispersing of funds to improve police performance and standards should be a clear requirement,” it said, adding that such benchmarks should be in the public domain to allow citizens and civil society to monitor progress.
Guyana’s Security Sector Reform programme is being implemented with critical assistance from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), while the recently launched Modernisation of the Justice Administration System programme is being supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) which is also funding a Citizen Security Programme.
In a comment to Stabroek News yesterday, British High Commissioner Fraser Wheeler said that the Commission had received a copy of the statement and has taken note of the points raised by the GHRA, which he noted has been proactive in speaking out where it thinks persons rights have been denied. Asked whether the High Commission is concerned about the treatment of persons in custody in light of the recent torture allegations, Wheeler said: “We are concerned about the treatment meted out to all persons whether in custody or not. At the same time we respect that Guyana as a sovereign state has its laws and there are regulations governing treatment of persons in custody. As a democratic state and a signatory to the international treaty for the protection of human rights, we expect Guyana to uphold the tenets of the Treaty.”
Stabroek News was unsuccessful in reaching IDB Representative Marco Nicola for comment.
In the last year, the joint services have been accused of torturing persons in custody on at least eight occasions, although the government has maintained that there is no proof to substantiate any of the allegations. In six instances last year, members of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) were accused of using torture techniques during interrogation: Buxtonians Patrick Sumner, Victor Jones, David Leander, also known as David Zammett were picked up during joint service raids and later appeared with visible injuries, including burns, about their bodies; GDF soldiers Michael Dunn, Alvin Wilson and Sharth Robertson said that they were subjected to torture during an interrogation as part of an investigation into a missing AK-47. More recently, prisoner Edwin Niles succumbed to injuries he sustained after reportedly receiving a beating after being found with ammunition at the Camp Street prisons. He was hospitalized for nine days before he died. A post-mortem report said Niles died as a result of a blood clot in the lungs due to burns about the back. He also had a fractured left arm. Nelson, an ex-soldier who was found dead in a holding cell, is the most recent case that has attracted concern over the treatment of persons in custody.
Earlier this year, the GHRA urged the UN Committee against Torture and the Special Rapporteur on Torture to make urgent contact with the government on “measures it should take to halt the dangerous slide into routine torture in Guyana.”
Silence and
intransigence
It added in its statement yesterday that the silence and intransigence of the disciplined services and civil authorities faced with mounting incidence of torture and death suggest contempt for accountability to civil society. It cited the delays in producing the report of the board of inquiry set up to investigate the torture allegations and the conditions under which it would be presented to the parliament as reinforcing such judgements.
In the case of Nelson, the GHRA described the police force’s initial explanation – that he might have inflicted fatal injuries on himself – as ludicrous. It cited the public statements by Police Commissioner Henry Greene on the case, saying they imply a laid-back, arms length approach to the questions about how Nelson died and who might be responsible. While noting that it did not expect the Commissioner to rush to judgement against his own ranks, the GHRA said “Guyanese citizens have a right to expect more than the casual indifference reflected in [his] comments, particularly at a time when serious crimes by acting and former members of the disciplined services are becoming a daily news feature.” It added that a more assertive statement by the police authorities to pursue the perpetrators and ensure condign punishment would have been more reassuring both to Nelson’s family and the general public.
During an extended parliamentary debate on Monday, the main opposition PNCR as well as the AFC both challenged the government to uphold its obligations under the UN Convention. The debate centred on a motion by PNCR-1G MP Aubrey Norton, who sought to have the National Assembly set up an independent investigation. Government, however, used its majority to block the motion, saying that there is no evidence to substantiate allegations that members of the joint services have tortured suspects and claims by alleged victims were false. Government speakers emphasised the administration’s opposition to the use of torture under any circumstances and said it is committed to meeting its treaty obligations. At the same time, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud told the house that while the board of inquiry set up to probe the allegations found no cases of torture, it did find instances of “roughing up.” But he explained that in the light of the “new face of criminality” the security forces would use “a certain amount of physical and mental pressure” in order to get information and he insisted that such tactics did not fit the definition of torture. “To try to include these acts is to cheapen the definition of torture,” he said.
The Joint services don’t know the difference between torture and interrogation….interrogation fro them means torture. They have not the training to properly/professionaly interrogate anyone. Sometimes the GHRA silence is louder than their words.
Uless the international organisations/doners that sustains Guyana take punative action to tie their grants to accountability this gov will be answerable to no one….and this pattern of indefference to the most atrocious acts by the JS will continue.
The GHRA has no moral authority to speak about human rights in Guyana, they are only speaking for rights of criminals , now that the govt is trying to reform the GPF which all guyana knows is necessary they are trying to block funds ,they are abusing the human rights of Guyanese by denying them a modern police force
CRIMINAL ARE HUMAN TOO SO THEY GOT RITES THEY R NOT DOGS AND EVEN THEM GOT WRITE TOO. SO WAT YOU GETTING AT. THE GUN SHOT LICKING MINISTER GOT WRITE SO TOO ARE DE WITE COLLAR CRIMINAL THAT RUN DE SHOW . THAT DE REASON THEY ARE ALIVE AND NOT ROUGH UP AS THE BRIGHTEST AND MOST DISTINGUISH MINISTER. CALL POLICE MODE OF INVESTIGATION
Guyana wake up ! it is time to stop fooling around human right is not doing much for the people.every time you heard some one died in the lockup and the police dont know some thing have to be done .please try and educate your police men .
AWEDEES YOU ARE INHUMAN.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE SMALL MAN THE CRIMINAL
THEN YOU ARE STUPID.
THE CRIMINAL IS AT THE TOP WITH A LOT OF BODY GARDS
AND THE SMALL MAN JUST DOING THE DIRTHY WORK
WHEN THE BIG ONES HAD ENOUGH THEY THINK THEY KNOW
TOO MUCH SO THEY GET RID OF THEM BY USEING A
NOTHER ONDER DOG TO DO IT.,
NO OFFENCE – PEACE MY BROTHER
THATS OK. ELOISE…maby nelson is ur family …i should of cosider him a inocent man tooooo…not stupid just confuse about who is inocent n whos not…
HUMAN RIGHTS? it is time for you to wake up. I wonder where were you when innocent youths were blown apart, children murdered, old people bullied, beaten, for the little posessions, they have. you never call attention to the police to wake up then. honest people hustling for a bread for their families are murdered. you never contemplate the state of the dependents. May I ask why now? Have you ever asked yourself why ? what? and who you do represent? Sorry for the state of Nelson. it is a life wasted. May he rest in peace.
one person represent the whole organization, he is the chairman, president, secretary, etc, etc, you only hear from him when its convenient for his self interest.
I N REPLY TO GO ARMY!.; my father was a police in guyana before he left to live in france with me and my mother,and he would always sing a lot of songs(he call it folks songs) before he die i ask him to write some for me,that is all the words he give me for that song and i love it so much!!!!.
As someone rightly said not too long ago in another blog, all the intelligent people have left or are desperately trying to leave Guyana. The result is that what is left are barely able to read, write or determine right from wrong and these are the people who are being selected as police officers and defence force personnel. The result is the mayhem that we now have in Guyana, and unfortunately, what is being on an ever increasing basis regarded as the norm.
I am again suggesting that the solution is for police officers with proven policing experience to be recruited from outside the country. These new officers would have ties to no one in Guyana and would, therefore, be able to provide a level of service that is impartial to all (races).
Until an initiative of this nature is undertaken, and the GPF is made to be responsible to Parliament and not to a single minister of government, (the reasoning here should be quite evident) nothing will ever change in Guyana and torture will continue.
That this may require a procedural, if not a constitutional change, is left for the powers that be to decide.
THAT SO TRUE IN MY SCHOOL DAYS THE PEOPLE WHO JOIN THE FORCE WITH EXCEPTION OF A FEW WERE SCHOOL DROPOUTS UNDER ACHEIVER AND THEM WHO JUST WANT SOME MONEY TO LIFE BY. NO SURPRISE AT WAT TAKING PLACE NOW AND FOR THIER MASTER WHO ARE MORALLY BANKRUPT THE FORCE BECOME POPPIT LIKE WE SAW DURING THE DAY OF PHANTOM.AFTER ALL THE BOTTOM MOVIN WITH THEY TOP
give them the money, you will be surprise.
Great suggestion – but – how long will they keep their independence and remain untied to anyone in Guyana? 2 weeks – 1 month?? who knows?? I do know that they will not remain independent and untied for any serious length of time. Then it will be – back to what it is now or worse.
The people at the helm have to want change for it to be effective. When will that be? It’s anybody’s guess!!
its time the international world do something,if not people will see them just as bad as the government here in Guyana.
I guess ‘rough up’ is a new phrase for torture …….what in god’s name r these ppl talkin abt rough up ……that’s what u call it ppl eyes swollen their face big like a balloon burns on their skin have to b lifted in court …..and these r the innocent ones I’m talkin abt only ……that’s the reason y the folice cannt get information from the ppl on the streets they r too cruel have no care for human being the do these things cus the have ppl to cover up for them
This GHRA is a one man organ and only when certain people meet death they cry–they holler-they bawl fuh murder…Its one sided and most lopsided……….People are not that foolish as you think…..You too transparet GHRA……..
It is so sad that some of you are not enlightened enough to understand the role of the GHRA,everybody knows that people are not supposed to be killed,but some of you believe that some people should be killed,because of their crimes,the GHRA’s job is to speak for those persons who’s lives you people think have no value,it does’nt matter what a person has done no one has a right to take his life,you people live in a civilised country now but you still have the same mentality where you have little respect for human life,your thirst for blood is much the same as the people you condemn!!