HEAD of Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Guyana, Jernej Videti, is calling on the Government of Guyana to abolish the death penalty, decriminalise same-sex intimacy and strengthen efforts to combat domestic abuse and trafficking in persons.Speaking at the launch of the Human Rights Film Festival at the Marriott Hotel on Thursday, the diplomat said that on November 23 and 24, the EU will be organising here in Georgetown a Caribbean Regional Conference on the abolition of the death penalty. The forum is expected to bring experts and media from the Caribbean and Europe to discuss the abolition of the death penalty and raise awareness of this issue throughout the Region.

Europe has been dealing with its own human rights issues, one of which currently is the issue of migration.

Since the beginning of the year, nearly 500,000 people have made their way to Europe. The vast majority of them are fleeing either war in Syria, the terror of the Islamic State in Libya, or dictatorship in Eritrea.

Many of the men, women and children trying to escape danger have unfortunately lost their lives in the Mediterranean, owing to their exploitation by people-traffickers, who pack them onto unsafe vessels.

“The most immediate objective of the EU’s policy on migration is to save lives and prevent the exploitation of these innocent people. We have redoubled our efforts to tackle smugglers and dismantle human-trafficking groups. We have tripled our presence at sea. Over 122,000 lives have been saved over the last few months. The EU is committed to dealing with this crisis in a manner that is fully in accordance with international law and respect for human rights,” the ambassador said.

He said the festival will give some of Guyana’s civil society organisations the opportunity to highlight the invaluable work they do to promote human rights of all in Guyana.

The EU has, for many years, provided support to these organisations.

Profound sadness

Ambassador Videti also took the opportunity on behalf of all who work at the EU Delegation to express profound sadness at the passing of Zenita Nicholson.

“Having recently arrived in Guyana, I never met Zenita myself. However, my colleagues inform me that she was very highly thought of, both as a person and due to her outstanding work on behalf of equal rights for all. Our deepest sympathy to all her family, friends and colleagues,” he said.

The EU has made human rights the silver thread that runs through its foreign policy, assisting democratic transitions around the globe and helping minorities, social groups and non-governmental organisations to voice their concerns.

A number of local civil society organisations which are active in promoting human rights in Guyana gave presentations on their work. These organisations included Childlink, SASOD, Camp4Change, Help & Shelter, and the Justice Institute.

A tribute to Nicholson, who recently passed away tragically, was also done by Joel Simpson of SASOD.

The films, which have been provided by a number of EU countries, each address several key human rights issues such as migration, the death penalty, and the rule of law.

The films were to be screened at the EU Delegation at 11 Sendall Place on Friday, October 30, and from Monday, November 2 to Thursday, November 5 at 18:00 hrs. All screenings are open to the public.

The films, in order of screening, are: The Colour of the Ocean (Germany), which addresses the issue of refugees; Honk! (France), which addresses the issue of the death penalty; Burden of Peace (The Netherlands), which addresses the issues of rule of law and corruption in politics; A Small Act (Sweden), which addresses the issue of human rights generally; and Democrats (Denmark), which deals with establishing constitutional reform in Zimbabwe.