CABINET, at its last Tuesday meeting, offered its commendation to the Guyana team, on the preparation and presentation, in Geneva, Switzerland, of this country’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon made the disclosure at his weekly media briefing yesterday, in Office of the President (OP), Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.
He said the presentation, essentially, is both an illustration and a defence of the Guyana position.
“Cabinet highlighted its satisfaction and its comfort with the state of recognition and the state of protection of human rights in today’s Guyana,” the Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) informed.
He said, since the review and its report, Cabinet noted that the engagement recognised and strongly supported Guyana’s efforts in human rights and that recognition was evident by the comments and the recommendations that were made by participating States, international bodies and observers.
Luncheon advised the public that the official report of that engagement is available in electronic form, both online at the Government Information Agency (GINA) and on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) website.
He also noted that the official report will be the subject of ongoing attention that would be organised by the Governance Unit in OP and would be officially tabled and discussed in the September 2010 sitting of the UNHRC.
Asked if Government is prepared to do an independent inquiry into some deaths contained in the recommendation and about the death penalty, Luncheon said there is a process by which the Government would indicate what are its intentions.
“Some of these intentions are known and, therefore, the one about having the inquiry into some of these events of which you speak, we have said it before, that whatever is going to be done, would be done by the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the law enforcement entity that is given the authority and powers to conduct investigations,” he stated.
Luncheon said the likelihood of the Administration mounting an event separate from an ongoing work by the GPF is slim.
Death penalty
With regard to the death penalty, he said it is the law right now, adding: “And, whilst I am certain that there are those who would continue to expect success from their agitations to remove it from the laws of Guyana, there are equally as many or even more who would love to have it even enshrined to a higher degree in the laws of Guyana.”
The HPS insisted that this situation is reflective of what is happening on the ground.
He said Government will continue to be advised and solicit the views of Guyanese but it should not be expected to pursue, unilaterally, a course to bring finality to this decision.
“We will be guided by what comes out from the collective views and opinions of the Guyanese people,” Luncheon reiterated.
About if he is satisfied with the rate of progress the GPF is making, with regard to the unlawful killings, he said: “Every unnatural death attracts an investigation. However, I must admit we have focused on this particular period, the whole saga, because of what came about from the trials in New York and both the law enforcement agencies and the Government of Guyana have recognised that there is a contribution that would help to facilitate these investigations and perhaps, even bring closure.”
In that context, Luncheon reminded that the Government has been approaching the United States (U.S.) Administration for information provided during those trials.
“So, on one side, there is the work that has been done, that continues to be done, exclusively at the national level, but work that we strongly feel may be facilitated by information that is available, information that has been solicited by the Government, by the Police from the trials completed in the U.S.,” the HPS said.
He went on: “I know there is more than just a fascination, people would like to bring closure to many of these events, but I am certain we are all looking at the television and we are aware of the notion of cold cases, investigations in process and what you don’t want is your urge to bring closure to have you take short cuts and move on with what would be, superficially, closure when important contributions are yet to be made.”
Luncheon said: “I urge you to be patient and allow those factors I have mentioned to impact on this period in the life of Guyana and allow us to have better clarity of what happened.”
Alluding to human rights, he said: “I would continue and I am pretty certain this Administration would continue to stress where we started, where we are.
“Because to carry on, with some amount of reasonableness, this course on recognition and protection of human rights in Guyana, on May 20, 2010, without any reference to where we were in 2000 and 1990 or 1980, leaves out an important contribution to this whole analysis and that is why we stress progress.”
Luncheon declared that nowhere in the world has the ideal situation obtained at the beginning and insisted that it is a process.
Human rights recognition and protection, domestically and in the international arena has shown progress, he maintained.
Luncheon said there was not an UPR before, but the UN General Assembly, in addressing progress at the international level, introduced it to be undertaken by every participating member, including Guyana.
Important aspect
He said “progress for us is a very important aspect of Guyana’s record on human rights and then the process.”
According to him:“Again, we have enough evidence to show that, in its applications in the law and in administration, rules and regulations, conformity with those undertaken to which the Guyana is committed on the basis of its accession to these human right instruments.
“And that’s progress, so I don’t have any difficulties in joining with other Cabinet colleagues, in joining with national bodies, adding our voices in the international arena in recognition of Guyana’s process and Guyana’s progress.
“And the resort, by individual countries, international bodies, in expressing their concerns, in raising or professing different recommendations to improve the human rights situation in Guyana, should never be construed as a rejection of what has and is taking place.”
He said it has more to do with some expectations, noting that he does not feel defensive about support for the law dealing with capital punishment nor will deny the right of any State party to suggest or even to urge the Administration to abandon capital punishment.
“I would never accept it as a condemnation of our laws, our constitution. They have a right, in the context of international law, to bring to bear, on the domestic situation, their expectations and we have an absolute, a sovereign right to determine what our position would be with regards to these matters,” Luncheon said.
He revealed that, in September, Guyana would be before the UNHRC with the report from its UPR, to address 50 odd recommendations that surfaced during that process.