MINISTER of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Norman Whittaker has refuted claims that the use of labour from the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) violates international law set forth by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).  The minister was responding to claims put forward by the Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC) voicing concern that the Government of Guyana, through the Local Government Ministry, had violated International

Labour Organisation (ILO) Forced Labour Convention No 29 by contracting the Prison Service as part of the manpower for the rehabilitation of the Le Repentir Cemetery. The Cemetery is being rehabilitated by a $100M grant from the $1B ‘Clean Up My Guyana’ project, for which $500M was allocated for a ‘Clean Up Georgetown’ campaign. Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, Whittaker said that the full advice of the Minister of Labour, Dr. Nankishore Gopaul was sought in order to determine whether there is some possibility of Guyana’s international obligations being violated. There was none. “In the past, I have been reluctant with the use of prison labour,” Whittaker said this was due to him, “not having the facts.” As of recent however, the minister expressed firmly that there is no illegality “once we are not displacing organised labour, and we are not denying them an opportunity” for gainful employment.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR LAW The labour standards of the International Labour Organisation under the Forced Labour Convention of 1930 (No. 29) spells out, in Article 2 (1), the definition for “forced or compulsory labour” as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.” Additionally, it provides that forced labour however does not include cases where, according to Article 2 (2) (b), “any work or service which forms part of the normal civic obligations of the citizens of a fully self-governing country.” Further in that provision, it is stated in part (e) of Article 2 (2) that forced labour cannot be declared in specific circumstances. It says that forced labour shall not include, “minor communal services of a kind which, being performed by the members of the community in the direct interest of the said community, can therefore be considered as normal civic obligations incumbent upon the members of the community, provided that the members of the community or their direct representatives shall have the right to be consulted in regard to the need for such services.” PRISONER STIGMA AND REHAB This publication received a comment from a senior prison official who reaffirmed that the use of prison labour has been done for years. The source expressed concern noting that “it is unfortunate because the reality is that there is so much stigma [attached to prisoners] and if the society is not simultaneous [in] accepting the fact that the prisoners would be given a chance, then we would be back to square one.” The source expressed a concern for the many cases of there being a double negative reality where families not only reject these prisoners after they have been released into society, but the now-stigmatised rejects find themselves offending again and “go back in the prison [system].” The official lauded the collaboration between the Government and the Prison Service as “essential for rehabilitation and reintegration.” As it relates to payment, it was mentioned that the monies are divided threefold: one portion goes directly to the Prison, a second goes to the Prisoner and a third will be lodged in a Prison Welfare Fund. Further information was provided regarding the criteria established for the inmates, it was disclosed that the inmates are assessed by the Sentence Management Board and the Sentence Management Unit, facilitated through the Home Affairs Ministry, to determine their eligibility based on behaviour, duration of sentence and conduct. The Local Government Minister had said recently that the clean-up works in the cemetery “will be designed into four lots”. Three of the four lots of the cemetery will be contracted to interested members of the public through organised Community Development Councils (CDCs) and the fourth lot will be contracted to the Prison Service “as part of their rehabilitation [efforts].” The minister stressed that the claims put forward by the GTUC are inaccurate because the Service is not contracted to do all of the works identified but rather one portion of it. The cemetery clean-up is scheduled to continue as planned. GEORGETOWN CLEAN UP The “Clean-Up My Country” Programme committee on Tuesday handed over equipment to the GPS which will be used to clean up portions of Le Repentir Cemetery. The GPS was contracted to de-bush Block 7 of the cemetery which is bounded by Broad Street to the North, Sussex Street to the South, Louisa Row to the East and St. Stephen’s Street to the South. As part of the contractual agreement, the GPS body agreed to provide the skills and the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development (MLGRD)agreed to supply the tools needed to get the job done and transportation to transport the debris to the Haags Bosch Landfill Site in Eccles on the East Bank of Demerara. This team comprises twenty four inmates and four supervising officers. To oversee this countrywide Clean-Up programme, several stakeholders are seated on the Implementation Committee. These include, representatives from the Ministry of Local Government, Environmental Protection Agency, Anti-Litter Campaign, Ministry Of Public Works and engineers from Mayor and City Council. (By Derwayne Wills)