Guyana has put off pronouncing on a slew of recommendations, including calls to abolish the death penalty and accede to international instruments against torture as well as to repeal laws that discriminate against persons on the basis of their sexual orientation.
Guyana’s human rights record was reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva on Wednesday under the framework of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The recommendation section of the draft report on the UPR of Guyana was adopted by the Working Group yesterday. Deputy Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations Office in Geneva Luisa Rebecca Sánchez Bello said yesterday that 54 delegations made statements, eight sent advance questions in writing and 143 recommendations were received.
“Of these, 75 received the support of the country under review. Four were already considered to have been implemented and the position on the remaining 64 recommendations was postponed. Guyana’s position on this last group of recommendations will be made public at the latest during the 29th session of the Human Rights Council which will be held in June this year,” she said.
Joachim Rücker, the President of the Human Rights Council put the recommendation section of the report up for adoption and it was approved. He said Guyana should indicate in due time a clear position on outstanding recommendations at the latest at the 29th session of HRC in June 2015.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett said the exercise was a valuable and worthwhile one for Guyana. “We were especially pleased that the great majority of member states recognized the efforts we have made in implementing the recommendations from 2010 and we want to commit that we will be working assiduously to implement those that we have accepted. No doubt there remain challenges to be overcome but my government will continue to press on as we work to implement the recommendations we have accepted at this review and those that we promised to consider,” she said.
The minister stated that the UPR process is one that all must work to improve where they see fit and in this regard, she recommended that the state party be informed of the mid-term assessment.
“Unfortunately, Guyana did not receive this information but was stated as being unresponsive in the report of the assessment. The early posting of the state party’s report is also necessary,” she said.
Among the recommendations that Guyana did not accept, but which it committed to examine and provide a response no later than the 29th session of the Human Rights Council in June/July 2015 was to ratify the second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) with the aim to total abolition of the death penalty. This had been recommended by a number of countries.
Several states recommended an immediate formal moratorium on the death penalty with Uruguay and Cost Rica also urging Guyana to commute without delay death sentences into prison terms. Panama urged Guyana to carry out the necessary amendments to its national legislation so that no crime is punished by the death penalty.
Guyana also put off on pronouncing on recommendations to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which was urged by a number of countries. It also will provide an answer on whether it would ratify the American Convention on Human Rights at a later date.
A number of countries had also recommended that Guyana ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. In addition to ratification, Costa Rica had also recommended that Guyana establish a national preventive mechanism as soon as possible, while Ghana urged Guyana to seek the support of the Group of Friends of the Convention against Torture Initiative for technical assistance in the implementation of measures aimed at preventing and investigating reports of torture in the prisons system. Spain had also urged Guyana to put in place an independent organ to investigate complaints of abuses perpetrated by members of the country’s security forces. Guyana will pronounce on this by June.
There were also recommendations for Guyana to accede to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, ratification and implementation of the ILO Convention 169 and aligning its national legislation with the Rome Statute, including by incorporating provisions to cooperate promptly and fully with the International Criminal Court and investigate and prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes effectively before its national courts. Guyana will examine these and pronounce on them at a subsequent date.
The same position was taken on calls to establish an independent national human rights institution in line with the Paris Principles as well recommendations to issue a standing invitation to all UN Special Procedures and acceptance of the request for a visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on torture.
LGBTI rights
Numerous recommendations were made for Guyana to repeal all provisions that discriminate against persons on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, particularly those which criminalise consensual adult same-sex relations as well as to combat all forms of discrimination and abuse against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans-gender and Intersex (LGBTI) persons. Other recommendation on this topic urged Guyana to guarantee to LGBTI persons the full enjoyment under equal conditions of their human rights, through the abolishment of the norms that criminalize and stigmatize them and the investigation and sanction of cases of violence or discrimination motivated by sexual orientation or gender identity as well as to amend Article 149 of the Guyana Constitution to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Guyana was also urged to amend its national legislation in order to include sexual orientation and gender identity as grounds of discrimination as well as to investigate incidents or acts of violence motivated by homophobia or transphobia and bring to justice those responsible for such acts. Guyana will examine these recommendations and provide an answer by June.
Several countries also urged Guyana to repeal as well as eliminate corporal punishment of children while there were also calls to raise the age of criminal responsibility.
Guyana was urged to respect and protect the right to freedom of expression online and offline and bring its national legislation fully in line with international standards, including by decriminalizing defamation; and to develop self-regulatory mechanisms of the media and to intensify efforts to improve the quality of education, to deal with the issue of high dropout rates, and continue to increase resources for educational infrastructure. Guyana was also urged to adopt a national action plan for the improvement of the situation for indigenous peoples. Those recommendations will be examined by Guyana and an answer will be provided by June.
Among the recommendations accepted by Guyana was to continue harmonizing its legal framework with respect to women and children with CEDAW and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, respectively and to consider developing Human Rights Indicators as suggested by the OHCHR. Guyana also supported recommendations to implement a comprehensive strategy to combat the discrimination against women, Amerindian children and also children with disabilities.
It also supported recommendations to strengthen efforts to ensure that People of African Descent participate and integrate in the economic, political, social and cultural spheres of Guyanese society and to implement more appropriate measures to build an inclusive society, in which no segment of the population, notably the Afro Guyanese who constitute 30 per cent of the population, do not suffer discrimination.
Further, among others, recommendations to strengthen the protection of LGBT individuals and to take measures to ensure that hate crimes and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity are vigorously investigated and appropriately prosecuted and to continue its effort in eliminating discrimination against LGBT starting with the review of its related legislation, were also supported.
