Gov’t silent as deadline nears for response to UN committee on violations at Chinese Landing

Toshao of Chinese Landing, Orin Fernandes

With a July 15 deadline for Guyana to respond to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN CERD) over allegations of  rights violations related to the indigenous community of Chinese Landing and the Wapichan people, the government has maintained silence.

(Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story had mistakenly stated the deadline as June 15.)

Stabroek News has reached out to Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira for an update but up to press time she had not responded.

In a letter dated April 29, 2022, addressed to Chargé d’ Affaires of the Guyana mission at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Kerrlene Wills, Chair of UN CERD, Verene Shepherd highlighted the complaints that the Com-mittee received as well as Guyana’s non-response to various letters requesting information.