Some local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are adamant that there are serious violations taking place in the country which defy the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
They are calling on government to take the necessary action to ensure that the document does not lose its relevance.
The call came at a symposium at City Hall organised by the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) in recognition of International Human Rights Day observed on Monday and the 60th anniversary of the UDHR.
A number of NGOs spoke out on the injustices they say will have to be addressed if this country is to make headway towards attaining the recommended status set out in the declaration document.
Addressing the audience, Help and Shelter coordinator, Margaret Kertzious released figures of the number of victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse which the organisation has interviewed and counselled.
According to her, from January to November this year, the centre has counselled some 700 new clients for domestic violence alone and from November 1995 to November this year it has dealt with some 899 abuse cases, 298 of which were against children. Seven hundred and sixty-three of the cases of abuse were committed against females.
The centre has also assisted government in providing a safe haven for abused women and children who are victims of Trafficking in Persons (TIP).
She said that domestic violence still remained the most pervasive form of violence, even though legislation has been enacted to address the issue. To this end she called on government to identify domestic challenges to human development.
Kertzious also made reference to the much talked about family court. “This court is still to be made a reality …After more than 12 years we repeat the call for the establishment of a family court,” she told the attentive gathering.
She lauded the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s ‘Stamp It Out’ campaign and promised that the organisation would submit its comments and suggestions regarding the proposals put forward for the reform of sexual violence laws and the protection of victims. She also recommended the recognition of gender-based violence as requiring specific intervention.
Guyana Bar Association (GBA) president Kashir Khan in his presentation pointed to incidents of alleged police brutality, and noted Article Five of the Declaration which states that no one should be subject to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
“The fact that it happened to one person is one time too often and we have to ensure that vulnerable persons are not put into these situations,” he declared.
Meanwhile, he said that in the regional context there exists a draft Caricom human rights strategy which may be the first step to moving human rights from a domestic issue to a regional one.
“So we need to champion this cause so that our rights will not be trampled upon,” he insisted.
He asserted that human rights violations have attained a level of sophistry, adding that what was taking place in some instances violated the spirit and true intention of the declaration document, to which Guyana and other UN member states have agreed to and signed.
“It is a struggle we must continue at all costs and ensure that this document does not lose relevance because we need it more now then ever before,” he urged to supporting applause.
Representative of the Amerindian People’s Association (APA) Lawrence Anselmo, who lauded Guyana’s vote in favour of the adoption of the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples, noted that this could be powerful in setting universal standards for the rights of Amerindians.
However he recommended government support for the establishment of village councils in Amerindian communities with power vested for control of land and other resources. He said Amerindian communities were still facing many challenges.
Karen De Souza, representing the Red Thread women’s group, said that many things are taken for granted since it is easy to forget the existence of treaties which the government has agreed to uphold.
Pointing to the right to education, outlined in one of the declaration’s statutes, De Souza said that many children are leaving primary school unable to read. “Education is not discussed as a right we have, rather it is spoken of as politics or economics,” she said.
She said there was much more to be done in terms of the attainment of the standards outlined in the declaration document, but believes that Guyana is not without hope.
“But we need to spend more time knowing our rights and applying pressure where necessary,” she said.
Accountability for ensuring that the person’s rights are respected, she said, also speaks to non-state actors, every organisation and every individual.
Vidyaratha Kissoon of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), quoting from the declaration stated that homosexuals were part of the human family and so were entitled to the same rights as others and they are protected by the declaration.
In this regard he slammed the promotion and public performances of artistes who promote the killing of gays. He said Guyana had a far way to go in ensuring the protection of this group in society, adding that persons were still being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.
He mentioned too that many big companies had no problem supporting shows where anti-gay statements are made publicly. “And yet we speak about human rights,” he said.
He further said that human rights could only be fully achieved when there is no corporal punishment in schools, when HIV intervention for men who have sex with men are not driven underground and when a democracy is indeed fully inclusive.
And Eric Phillips of the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) also added his voice to the symposium in which he said he felt that the state of human rights in Guyana is most abominable. “Guyana is a human rights sore … we have marginalization directly and indirectly against Afro-Guyanese and this is evident with the blocking of the setting up of an ancestral lands commission,” he said.
Phillips said human rights abuses in Guyana are glaring and he felt too that there was racism here which has been nurtured by fear.
He castigated the church for not playing its role in the support of human rights issues and accused it of being a commercial entity run in the name of God.
“They have lobbied against casino gambling but are silent on issues like police brutality and extra-judicial killing,” he insisted.
Representatives of the Critchlow Labour College, the Guyana Citizens Initiative and the Network of Guyanese Living With and Affected by HIV/AIDS also made presentations on human rights issues.
