The Guyana Human Rights Association today condemned the detention by police of anti-human trafficking campaigner, Simona Broomes, accusing the force of harassing her.
In a statement today, the GHRA said that at its third Quarterly Meeting, the Executive Committee of the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), among other issues, reviewed the “odious harassment” of Broomes, Head of the Guyana Women Miners Association (GWMA) by the police force. The GHRA extended solidarity and support to Broomes over this “disturbing experience.”
It said “Ms Broomes was arrested for questioning and kept for most of the day by the police in connection with an alleged assault and robbery against a woman who was charged with trafficking in the Puruni mining district, as a result of Ms. Broomes intervention. Charges being investigated against Ms. Broome, bizarre in the circumstances – that she assaulted the victim and attempted to “snatch” her gold chain – came only after four months, due as the complainant claimed, to her having “forgotten” about them.
“In Guyana ‘the right to mine’ reigns supreme. Everyone in the industry is convinced that anything can be ‘fixed’. In these circumstances, actions to combat TIPS, (such as environmental destruction, river pollution, incursion in Amerindian lands or other areas of rampant illegality), are not only confronting rogue individuals, but are also disturbing a marabunta nest of powerful interests…”
