Picketers outside the Guyana Human Rights Centre on Hadfield Street.

“They wait until we dead – how yoh goh get rights when yoh dead?”, asked 24-year-old Nicky Marshall, the official spokesperson for a group of protesters who gathered outside the Guyana Human Rights Centre on Hadfield Street Georgetown yesterday afternoon to protest inaction by the Association.

The protesters, coming from various communities, were young, – ranging in age from mid-teens to mid-twenties. Asked what led to the protest, they described themselves as just a group of young people with similar interests.

One youth commented, “The people in GHRA need to “step down” and another youth chimed in, disagreeing, “They need to step up”. One protester stated that he was from the ghetto and people from the ghetto are abused all the time.

The youths carried placards bearing slogans such as: “GHRA Protectors of Criminals” , “ GHRA is a farce for a human rights body”, “Where is the democracy in the GHRA? Is Mike Mc Cormack President for Life?”, and “ When will the GHRA focus their attention on the rights of victims”.

The group stated that they would continue picketing, “… as long as it takes” to get persons’ attention.