The controversial Annual United States State Department Report on Human Rights Practices around the world has come to be regarded in some quartets as an index for measuring the political preferences of the world’s most powerful state rather than as a reliable ‘report card’ on respect for human rights in those countries that are assessed.

Here in Guyana, for example, it is not uncommon for government to querry many of the State Department’s assessments of police procedures, the treatment of prisoners, the effectiveness of the judiciary and other issues that can expose a country to domestic and international ridicule.

Is the United States State Department Report on Human Rights an objective assessment of the conditions that obtain in the countries under review or is it simply an indicator that Washington continues to regard itself as the conscience of the world?