GUYANA has presented its consolidated reports on the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CROC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) at the January and February sessions of the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review 2013. Those presentations were made by Presidential Advisor on Governance, Ms. Gail Teixeira and Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Ms. Jennifer Webster, who are representing this country at the UN meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon announced at his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing yesterday.
Speaking at Office of the President (OP), Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown, he said that, in relation to the CROC, Guyana’s consolidated report dealt with the second, third and fourth compilations and the review is now available on the official website of the UN committee.
He said Cabinet has reviewed the recommendations and conclusions that were arrived at during Guyana’s presentation and noted that the focus was on the Family Court and its establishment and national data collection.

Recurring issue
According to him, a recurring issue is the desire of the committee to acquire data that is unavailable, specifically addressing ethnicity and socio-economic indicators.
“With rare exception, national data, based on ethnicity, continues not to be collected in the history of the Republic and similarly, socio-economic indicators, data based on those indicators also can form part of our collections,” he said.
Luncheon emphasised that the convention has been asking and recommending that, that situation be addressed by the competent authorities.
In addition, among the other recommendations on the CROC were sexual exploitation and abuse and issues relating to children with disability, he disclosed.
The Cabinet Secretary further advised that Guyana would be submitting its consolidated fifth and sixth computations in 2018, which will include the responses to the recommendations which emanated from the January/February session.
Meanwhile, he stated that the seventh and eighth consolidated reports for CEDAW were presented at the January sitting.
Luncheon mentioned that Cabinet also considered that documentation which is now available on the official website of the UN Committee, as well.
He said the areas of recommended focus included emphasis on domestic violence, trafficking, gender equity and national data collection, again as it relates to ethnicity and socio-economic indicators.
Luncheon said Guyana’s next report is scheduled to be presented in July 2016.