Dear Editor,
Nearly 5 years after the launching of wide-ranging and well-attended regional consultations on the Stamp It Out document introduced by the previous Minister of Human Services followed by deliberations for over 9 months by a parliamentary select committee made up of representatives of governmental and opposition parties, the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) was tabled in Parliament and assented to by the then President in May of 2010.
After this long and tortuous path it is shocking indeed to now learn that more than 2 years after the SOA was passed, the ruling by the Chief Justice on the unconstitutionality of paper committals will most probably prevent all new and pending SOA cases from being heard. Worse than this, committals already made will be thrown out and the whole process will have to re-start.
This is indeed a travesty of justice and a shocking display of incompetence and disregard for the victims of rape, incest and other sexual offences most of whom are children. The then Minister of Human Services, who to her credit also introduced and piloted the bill through the National Assembly had to be aware of the ‘problems’ in the SOA, chief of which was the constitutionality of paper committals. However it appeared as if politics was given precedence over justice for survivors of sexual offences, as by then, election season was in high gear and the plight of victims of sexual offences was placed on the back burner where it has continued to simmer for the past 2 years.
Organizations such as Help & Shelter and Red Thread have continued to speak out and protest against the long delays in getting the SOA enacted, and since its enactment have exposed the fact that very few if any cases were making their way through the court system. Other agencies also had cause to comment in the press on what they saw as foot-dragging in the investigation of child sexual abuse cases by the Guyana Police Force.
The new Minister of Human Services to her credit reconvened the Sexual Offences Act Task Force, which had met previously only once since May of 2010, and committed herself to start the process for the much needed amendments to be drafted and approved before the parliamentary recess now in effect. This however does not appear to have been achieved. So once again the most vulnerable and violated are being denied the right to access justice. As such the Minister of Human Services should fast-track the amendments to the SOA and ensure that the SOA Task Force is convened asap. A lack of representation from key government ministries is not a credible enough reason for the non-convening of the SOA Task Force, even though this certainly seems to demonstrate a lack of commitment by such ministries towards the prevention and prosecution of sexual offences in Guyana. The citizens of Guyana, including our children deserve better from the government and elected members of the National Assembly. Where is the outrage, the protests and advocacy for the survivors of sexual offences, the majority of whom are children? Let us not allow the rape and murder of 14-year-old Basmattie ‘Manda‘ Moonsammy and survivors of sexual offences to go unpunished and forgotten.
Yours faithfully,
Danuta Radzik
