As reported cases of sexual violence against women and girls continue to surface, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) has expressed worry about what it calls the government’s “indifference” towards implementing legal reforms.
The GHRA’s Executive Committee has agreed to write to the Director of Public Prosecutions concerning a number of recent sexual violence cases not being properly addressed, it said in a statement yesterday. The delay in implementing reforms was among issues raised when the Executive Committee held its second quarterly for the year, last Saturday. Other issues dealt with were the expulsion of Guyanese from Barbados, the lack of accountability in public life and concerns about Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) consultations.
Since the start of the year the momentum behind the sexual offences reform has been hampered by the unwillingness of the government to make the draft legislation available to civil society, the GHRA explained, adding that over the past eight months efforts to secure copies of the draft have been met with the explanation that it is with the Attorney General’s Chambers. In the case of reform of Sexual Offences legislation the issue was driven by a strong coalition of civil society mobilized by organizations such as the GHRA, Red Thread and Help & Shelter in conjunction with the Ministry of Human Services.
“Parallel with government indifference to approving the reformed legislation, front pages of newspapers, including the state media, have maintained daily revelations of sexual offences committed during 2009,” it said, adding, “Nauseating as these cases may be, we need to bear in mind they represent only a fraction of the actual violence taking place against women and girls.”
According to the group, two recent well-publicised sexual offences cases involving schoolgirls only attracted charges because of media publicity. In neither case, it pointed out, was the charge related to the actual sexual offences because the current laws do not cover grooming. It added, “Indifference to sexual violence against women and girls reflects the day-to-day combination of ignorance, inefficiency and corruption demonstrated by the agencies responsible for the administration of justice.” Furthermore, it said there is also the systemic, institutionalised violation, citing the shortcomings of the criminal justice system. “The message to females in Guyana 2009 is that you don’t matter enough and the message to rapists is – feel free to ‘do wha you want,’” the GHRA said.
‘Inexcusable’
Although it recognised the Barbados government’s right to exercise authority to remove illegal immigrants, the GHRA said that the manner in which the authority is being exercised is “inexcusable, unnecessary and a grave abuse of the rights to due process of those being deported.”
The executive charged that the action to remove illegal immigrants is being used by the Barbadian government to stir nationalist and racial animosity against Guyanese and other immigrants and by the Barbadian police to justify abusive acts against them. “This despicable behaviour needs to be evaluated in the context of a society which in more prosperous times was happy to turn a blind eye to cheap labour, legal or illegal,” it observed.
At the same time, it said, unacceptable behaviour by the Barbados authorities against Guyanese immigrants was a long-standing problem. In 2001, the GHRA had protested over inhuman treatment of Guyanese women by Barbados immigration officers at Grantley Adams airport and on a previous occasion over the removal of Guyanese passengers from an aircraft while legitimately transiting through the same airport. It said this was in one of several instances.
It was critical of the Foreign Affairs Ministry for consistently failing to vigorously pursue the issue, saying half-hearted formalities have been preferred to dignified and firm demands for explanations. On this point, it said official reticence is tinged with recognition of the indirect responsibility of the government for failing to create the conditions for Guyanese to live and work in reasonable expectation of prosperity here in Guyana.
Accountability
Meanwhile, concern was also expressed about the systematic undermining of the rule of law in several areas. In particular, the GHRA executive said, the government has been continuously struggling to justify its unwillingness to investigate the apparent involvement of highly-placed people in drug criminality in Guyana, noting that while there has been “a series of high-profile trials” in the United States, there has not been a single indictable charge against anyone in Guyana.
Weak or non-existent regulatory mechanisms also drew criticism for being unable to investigate a catalogue of financial and business transactions involving the loss or diversion of large amounts of public funds, selective prosecution of large-scale customs fraud, the sale of public assets at indefensibly low prices to political cronies and failure to channel revenue into the Consolidated Fund.
Additionally, the GHRA also cited the failure to complete official enquiries into allegations of torture by the Guyana Defence Force, the deaths of two inmates in the Georgetown Prison and brutality and torture allegations against the Joint Services in Wakenaam.
REDD
Following reports from members of the Executive who have attended REDD consultations and other meetings, some concerns were also expressed. These include a lack of clarity over the conditions or standards required to secure Norwegian support for a REDD programme. It was noted that of the 144 REDD initiatives being developed in various countries, only one country’s submission—Tuvalu–to the UN Frame-work Convention for Climate Change has made community-managed forests, that is indigenous rights, a binding part of the REDD agreement. There is also scepticism over governmental assurances, particularly in the light of current practices in mining prompted by the concessions of over 70 claims in the Rewa river and the appearance in recent months of six missile dredges–owned by one Brazilian–in the Barama River area of Region One, along with two Guyanese-owned dredges. There is also uncertainty over the implications of the concept that the REDD is a ‘developmental’ not an ‘environmental’ initiative, the GHRA said.
Furthermore, it pointed out that a recent international review of Guyana identified human rights infractions, lack of land tenure, lack of free prior and informed consent, weak enforcement of existing environmental laws and minimal risk analysis with regard to mining and infrastructural development as potential obstacles to wholeheartedly embracing the REDD as a development blueprint for Guyana. As a result, the GHRA
Executive Committee agreed to be guided in its approach to REDD by Clause 6 of the Anchorage Declara-tion of the Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change, signed on April 14th 2009, which places emphasis on the rights of indigenous peoples.
