AS Guyana continues to grapple with discrimination against minority groups, the Guyana Equality Forum (GEF) last week met with Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, and two Foreign Service Officers to raise concerns and remind him of Guyana’s international human rights obligations.Those who met with Minister Greenidge included: Sabine McIntosh, President of the Deaf Association of Guyana (DAG); Managing-Director, Joel Simpson, and Advocacy and Communications Officer, Schemel Patrick of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD); and Foreign Service Officers Jason Fields and Vonetta Victor.
McIntosh, who spoke about the right to language and education for deaf persons, highlighted Guyana’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Guyana became the 150th country to ratify in September 2014.
She highlighted that Article four of the Convention requires state parties to “ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities.”
Further, Article 24 states that “Persons with disabilities shall be entitled, on an equal basis with others, to recognition and support of their specific cultural and linguistic identity, including sign languages and deaf culture.”
The article also outlines the state’s obligation of “facilitating the learning of sign language and the promotion of the linguistic identity of the deaf community.”
Given the ratification of this convention, McIntosh underscored Guyana’s duty to give deaf students the option of attending deaf-dedicated schools, where their language and culture are fostered and where they are adequately prepared for their lives as responsible and productive citizens.
Currently, Guyana is behind its regional counterparts including Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, where sign language is taught at the university level and where parents can send their deaf children to a public or private deaf-dedicated school.
As such, she requested of the minister to invite the World Federation of the Deaf to provide expert advice and best practices on how best to meet these obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as is outlined in Article 38 of the Convention.
SASOD’s Schemel Patrick, who presented on behalf of the Sisterhood of Support, Services and Sustainability Foundation (S4 Foundation), sought to urge the government to ratify or accede to the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
By ratifying these Optional Protocols, Patrick said, a state recognises the competence of the CEDAW and ICESCR Committees – the bodies that monitor state parties’ compliance with the Conventions – to receive and consider complaints from individuals or groups within its jurisdiction.
Simpson presented three key recommendations from the Guyanese Organisation of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP).
First was the call for the coalition government to take all necessary steps to support and preserve indigenous languages at risk of extinction and to enhance the integration of indigenous cultures into the education system. He also expressed grave concern with the issue of cross-border and intra-national sex trafficking in indigenous women and children.
Over the years, illicit trafficking networks have, with impunity, been smuggling mostly female citizens of Guyana across the porous borders, as well as citizens of other countries entering Guyana as part of this nefarious modern-day sex slavery.
Simpson also reminded Minister Greenidge of the Government’s obligations to ensuring that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Guyanese are offered legal protection from discrimination in the enjoyment of their socio-economic rights.
The minister was also urged to support an amendment of the Prevention of Discrimination Act 1997 to include sexual orientation, gender identity and health status as grounds for discrimination.
In responding to the delegation, the minister, who is also a vice-president, encouraged the GEF delegation to also engage the relevant ministries with responsibility for dealing with their specific sectoral issues.
He noted that the coalition government does not oppose proposals to advance human rights protection in principle, but lamented the resource constraints it faces to effectively address some issues. Minister Greenidge also underscored the importance of community engagement, innovation and education in alleviating social problems. He explained that there is a need to strengthen the government’s human and institutional capacity to ensure that government meets its international obligations. Further, he pointed out that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not fashion policy, but articulates on behalf of various agencies in the international arena.