Dear Editor,
I refer to Thomas Hobbes’ thesis of a Hobbesian state. The British philosopher alluded to the breakdown in the rule of law which he posited would create chaos, thereby rendering life in the state to become “nasty, brutish and short.” Can someone please explain the rationale behind the modus operandi of the Guyana Police Force, which, it appears, possesses a penchant for extra- judicial killing? Why it appears as though life in Guyana has become nasty, brutish and short? Why there is the senseless killing of children? What about the Rights of the Child as articulated in Article 19 of the UNCRC that “Every Child has a Right to Protection from Violence and Abuse”? I sit as a bona fide Commissioner on both the Women and Gender Equality Commission and the Rights of the Child Commission and I am in a state of apoplexy. Why? It’s because of all the sons lost in the killing here in Guyana. The killing of our youths is a bad omen for this nation. Why must the bullet become the first step in resolving conflict? Why was the youth killed one day before his 18th birthday? Who is responsible? I am wholly disconcerted about life in a Hobbesian state.
Yours faithfully,
Nicole Cole
