A day after he created a stir by asking about corruption allegations against Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, the US representative on the UN Human Rights Committee kept up a barrage of questions including the outcome of investigations into the detention of the former Home Affairs Ministry Permanent Secretary at a US airport last year and extrajudicial killings.
During yesterday’s continuation of the United Nations’ 140th Session of the Human Rights Committee (CCPR) in Geneva, Switzerland, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira answered follow-up questions along with new ones posed by United States committee member Laurence Helfer regarding various human rights issues in the country.
Helfer raised concerns about the state’s response to allegations of corruption and the need for agencies to be more proactive in investigating such claims. In particular, the committee member inquired about civil forfeitures, criminal prosecutions, and the government’s handling of high-profile cases like the detention of a former Permanent Secretary, Mae Toussaint Jr Thomas at the Miami International Airport in April of last year.
