The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) says it welcomes the encouraging search for a common position on security by the parliamentary parties and added that in this context there should be “acceptance of an effective, independent civic mechanism to monitor all aspects of the Security Plan.”
The human rights body said too that “the most effective role citizens can play is by providing information on criminal or suspicious behaviour that comes to their attention.”
And while methods of ensuring confidentiality are being actively explored, the GHRA noted, improved relations between the police and communities are also important. In this respect the human rights body suggested that the Guyana Police Force ought to be able to build on widespread sympathy over the cowardly behaviour of the killers following the deaths in Bartica. According to the GHRA, one of the aims of the Bartica killings is clearly to undermine morale in the police force and encourage defections and resignations from its ranks. And in a strange reversal of roles, the human rights body remarked, recent events have placed greater responsibility on citizen-based efforts to protect and support the police.
The GHRA, referring to the Lusignan massacre and the murderous rampage at Bartica, also pointed out that “clearly the perpetrators of these unspeakable crimes make no distinction, rendering every citizen a potential victim.”
“Everyone is therefore involved. Self-interest, let alone the dictates of justice, should ensure everyone should want the perpetrators apprehended.”
The GHRA said that the exposure of all citizens to such violence carries with it the right of everyone to access accurate, impartial and timely information on all aspects of the security situation. Widespread acceptance of such information, the human rights body suggested, would be assured if supported by a mechanism which has nothing to lose or gain politically from the information being provided.
The GHRA added that it roundly condemned the perpetrators of the atrocity in Bartica, which like the recent massacre in Lusignan can never be justified on any grounds whatever. The human rights body extended condolences to the families of the 12 murdered victims while also expressing support and solidarity to members of the Guyana Police Force whose lives, it said, have been made even more stressful and insecure by last Sunday’s events.