GUYANA is among 16 countries whose reports, to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), were endorsed.
The compilation was submitted in response to a number of issues raised at the UPR in Geneva, Switzerland, last May, which was attended by Advisor on Governance, Ms. Gail Teixeira and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.
“At the review of Guyana, before the UPR in May 2010, Guyana agreed to examine 55 recommendations and to provide responses in due course, but no later than the fifteenth session of the Human Rights Council in September 2010,” this country said.
In the compendium, dated September 13, Guyana informed the UNHRC that the UPR process attracted considerable attention, particularly in the local media.
Highlighting Guyana’s human rights achievement, it said that the Indigenous Peoples Commission was approved by the National Assembly on July 29, 2010, the members will be appointed in September 2010 and it is expected to be fully operational before year end, as office facilities and budgetary allocations are in place.
The submission said the other three constitutional human rights commissions —Women and Gender Commission, Rights of the Child Commission and the Ethnic Relations Commission– are now all functioning with offices and dedicated budgetary allocations.
“In keeping with the Constitution, the Leader of the Opposition will be called upon to submit six names, from which the President will select and appoint the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission. The Human Rights Commission becomes the secretariat of the above-mentioned human rights commissions,” it was stated.
Guyana also reported that the public assent of the new Sexual Offences Bill, referred to at the UPR, before an audience of 1000 civil society participants, on May 24, 2010, graphically demonstrated the Government and society’s condemnation of sexual violence in Guyanese society.
“Following this, a new and reinvigorated campaign, involving communities, civil society, the media and all religious bodies (Christian, Hindu and Muslim), has been launched to end domestic and sexual violence,” the report said.
It said that Guyana acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography on July 30, 2010 and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Children in Armed Conflict on August 11. 2010.
“Guyana also ratified the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families on July 7, 2010. Guyana tabled, in the National Assembly on August 9, 2010, an amendment to the Criminal Law (Offences) Act, which will provide for sentencing, including life imprisonment or shorter periods and parole for differentiated categories of murder.
That legislation will be debated after the parliamentary recess ends in October, Guyana indicated.
Indication was also given that Guyana, on August 5, 2010, tabled amendments to the Training School Act and the Juvenile Offenders Act and they are listed for debate in October, to remove the use of corporal punishment in juvenile detention centres.
“It should be pointed out that, prior to this, administrative measures disallowed corporal punishment in the sole co-ed juvenile rehabilitation centre in Guyana,” the report said.
It said that the Parliamentary Special Select Committee, which considered the 2004 report of the High Level Commission of Inquiry into the Disciplined Forces, completed its work with 164 recommendations and the 155 recommendations were approved by the National Assembly on June 10, 2010.
“It is worth noting that sections addressing issues such as extra-judicial killings, accountability to civilian authorities and complaints against the Police, Prison and the Army were all accepted.  Approximately 50 per cent of these recommendations are already at different stages of implementation and have formed part of the security sector modernisation programme,” Guyana said.
“Furthermore, the National Assembly supported the recommendation that the Chancellor of the Judiciary is expected to ensure that members of the Judiciary and Magistracy, who have responsibility for the oversight of the prisons, make  periodic visits and that the Minister of Home Affairs shall establish a Board of Visiting Justices, in compliance with the Prison Act, in addition to the civilian-based oversight Prisons Visiting Committee already in place and functioning. Guyana continues to take steps to review and improve the prison system within its capabilities,” the report said.
It concluded: “Guyana, in spite of these challenges, however, remains irrevocably committed to democracy and the protection of human rights, rule of law and good governance for its people. Guyana continues to work towards effectively strengthening the implementation of the 57 recommendations it supported and those, herein, to which it has made further commitments in accordance with its capabilities.”