While welcoming the emergency regulations instituted by government to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) on Saturday called for measures to be taken to reduce overcrowding in prisons given the potential risks to prison staff and inmates.
The human rights body said the regulations announced by government on Friday are justified as they seek to rely on vigorous social distancing to combat COVID-19 but also urged that they be enforced in a “sensible and humane” manner.
“Justification for the measures is rooted in the fact that there is no cure [for] COVID-19, so the only absolutely sure way to stay safe is not to contract it. The medical community can only help the infected by testing early and [assisting] them to recover,” the GHRA executive Committee said in a statement, while urging their sensible and humane enforcement. “Hopefully the insensitive manner in which arriving passengers were reportedly quarantined in the early stages of the emergency were due to nervous unfamiliarity and have been since corrected,” it added.
