Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira said yesterday that her statements before the United Nations Human Rights Council in relation to the 15-year-old boy who was tortured were made within the context of the motion filed on his behalf in court.
“I didn’t say at anytime that the government said [he was compensated], I never used the word government at all”, Teixeira said, and she accused this newspaper of attempting to make a storm in a teacup based on what she reported to the Council. Teixeira was at the time speaking at a joint press briefing with Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett at Takuba Lodge.
“Do we deny that he was medically treated, that he got all the medical treatment he required? And that furthermore the Ministry of Housing and Human Services had offered and given tangible assistance to the family in their time of need and had also provided counseling for the young man”, she continued, noting that she found the Stabroek News report on the issue published yesterday, “offensive”.
She said her actual statement was quoted from the webcast and reported in this newspaper, but that it was later deduced to mean something else. “My language was what it was and therefore I am asking for Stabroek News to retract the headline on me”, she said. Still on the issue, Teixeira said she has difficulties with people calling her, noting she does not know all the press people in the country. “I can’t tell with what is going on, that someone asking me a question is actually a media person”, she stated.
Minister Rodrigues then chimed in that she was not contacted by this newspaper on the issue of what Teixeira said before the Council. She said the state’s presentation did not include any distortion from what Teixeira said as it related to the issue of the teenage boy.
Commenting on the young man who was tortured by police last October during the UN’s Universal Periodic Review in Geneva, Switzerland last week, Teixeira said “The young man (Twyon) Thomas, a most tragic event. It has been openly investigated and the perpetrators have been brought to the court and have been charged and also compensation and counseling and medical treatment for the patient”. Her answer implied that there was compensation for Thomas when there hasn’t been any.
Thomas has filed a lawsuit against the Attorney General, the Commissioner of Police and the two ranks accused of torturing him, asking for $40M in compensation. The matter is currently ongoing in the High Court and when contacted yesterday his attorney Khemraj Ramjattan said the family took a decision to go to the court and seek compensation as opposed to approaching the state. Ramjattan said that after the constitutional motion was filed there was an opening for the state to admit wrongdoing and discuss a settlement with the young man within the court system.
Ramjattan said the state decided to go the route of challenging the motion and that the matter is currently ongoing. He said the administration has basically gone to the court and denied knowledge of the torture the young man endured. “They filed a motion of defence and are saying they are unaware of this and unaware of that” he added.
Questioned on whether government is going to compensate Thomas yesterday, Teixeira said that government would not seek to compensate the young man outside of the court system. “It might look as if we are trying to bribe the person, wouldn’t it?” she asked rhetorically, saying that the government will have to abide by a court ruling if compensation is awarded. However, she noted that it is within the state’s powers to appeal the matter if it considers the judgment an unfair one. She added that compensation is not done by hand-outs, saying that if the government goes that route it can be found to be “highly suspect”.
Stabroek News Editor-in-Chief Anand Persaud in a comment said that the news item on Teixeira’s statement was in order particularly since the UN Convention Against Torture mandates that state parties compensate persons who have been tortured by agents of the state. Persaud noted that in its December 7, 2006 communication with the Guyana Government, the Committee Against Torture urged that Guyana “Take effective steps to guarantee the accountability of the Guyana Police Force and, to this effect, carry out prompt, impartial and effective investigations, try the perpetrators of acts of abuse and, when convicted, impose appropriate sentences and adequately compensate the victims.”
He said that when the Canadian Ambassador raised the question about the boy’s torture there would have been an expectation that the Guyana delegation would have answered completely on all aspects from investigation to compensation. Since Teixeira acknowledged that Thomas had been tortured while in the custody of the police, Persaud said she should have declared the intention of the state to provide suitable compensation but failed to do this and introduced ambiguity which could mislead the council into believing that compensation had been paid. He noted that Teixeira yesterday referred to medical treatment and counseling provided to Thomas by the state and these two matters were also referred to in the Geneva statement along with the word “compensation”. Persaud said that it was puzzling that Teixeira believed that compensation by the state was predicated on the resolution of legal action brought by counsel for Thomas. He added that Minister Rodrigues, as head of the delegation, should seek to have the record in Geneva clarified for the avoidance of any doubt in the matter.
