At its human rights review by the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland two weeks ago, Guyana was called out for still having the death penalty on its books, not doing enough for the LGBT community and failing to establish a human rights commission.
At the recent 35th Session of the Universal Periodic Review those were the areas focused on by the more than sixty countries which responded to Guyana’s status report. Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. J.R. Deep Ford, led the country’s delegation of four to the review. In his report Ford admitted that teen pregnancies, maternal mortality and gender-based violence all remain areas of concerns for Guyana. While he responded to most of the concerns raised no response was given to those that related to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community nor was any given to the comment by the United Kingdom that the country increase media freedoms.
The country’s report with all the recommendations will be prepared by Australia, Chile and Pakistan and circulated today.
