A number of states on Wednesday urged Guyana to do more to protect the rights of women and children as the country’s human rights record was reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Canadian representative Leigh McCumber recommended that Guyana ensure a coordinated response between police, justice, child protection, and social service officials so that women and children who are victims of violence, including sexual abuse, have access to immediate protection. She also urged that Guyana provide law enforcement and judiciary members with training on addressing domestic violence and child abuse cases and build their capacity to record and track complaints, ensuring that all allegations are thoroughly investigated and that all perpetrators are prosecuted.
Further, she urged the reduction of the use of corporal punishment against minors in state-run institutions through awareness-raising campaigns and training in non-violent forms of discipline. A number of other countries made similar recommendations. UK representative Anne Jahren welcomed the progress made by Guyana since its last review in acceding to or ratifying a number of human rights instruments but said that the UK is concerned that Guyana has yet to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), despite having committed to do so. She encouraged Guyana to do this as soon as possible.
In response, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett said that as it relates to discrimination and violence against women, she was unhappy “that I couldn’t report to you that this area has seen massive improvement. Our efforts at the state level will continue, will be intensified.”
She said the plan of action on domestic violence and sexual offences were submitted and are being considered, with the one on domestic violence already in operation. However, she said the phenomenon requires quite a lot of research in addition to measures being put in place. “There is one school of thought that because of the increased awareness of women of their rights and the increased independence of women, some of our menfolk are not reacting very nice to that and so we have quite a lot of work to do with our men,” Rodrigues-Birkett asserted.
She said if in the past women were subservient, today this has changed because of awareness raising of women’s rights and noted that this is one school of thought. She added that the authorities are working on parity in education at the tertiary level as at this level, the ratio is almost two thirds to one third in favour of women attending the university. This is a challenge in Guyana and the Caribbean Community (Caricom), she said.
In relation to child protection, the minister said this is always a work in progress and Guyana’s submission outlines some of the measures taken. The child protection agency is one of most active agencies dealing with children and would continue efforts in this regard, she added.
On judicial training, Rodrigues-Birkett said training was done with police and prosecutors and seven domestic violence units within various police stations were established and work will continue to work in this regard. Slovenia had raised the issue of forced marriage and Rodrigues-Birkett said she was shocked because in Guyana a person cannot get married before 16 years without their parents’ consent. She said there has not been any request “in the longest while” for anyone getting married before age 16 and so she was not sure where the report came from and wanted those responsible for ensuring that it got into a report to also report it to the local authorities. “It’s a criminal offence if someone gets married before 16,” she said.
Norway had welcomed Guyana’s efforts to improve the administration of justice and reduce the number of prisoners on remand but also expressed concern at the high level of impunity for violence against women and children in the country. “Despite the fact that women’s access to justice is provided for by law, women’s ability to exercise that right and to bring cases of discrimination before the courts remains limited. Subsequently Norway recommends that Guyana strengthen the provision of legal aid services in all regions and ensure enhanced awareness of key CEDAW provisions by the judiciary,” Oslo’s representative Sigri Stokke Nilsen said.
Rodrigues-Birkett agreed that legal services in hinterland is one area that has to be worked on. She emphasised that the hinterland is very vast and have been expanding legal aid services to many regions of country and will continue to work on this.
No evidence of widespread
human trafficking
Meanwhile, US representative Divya Khosia expressed concern about reports of forced labour in mining, agriculture, and forestry, as well as in domestic service and shops. “We note the government’s modest progress in its efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, but we are concerned that children are legally permitted to engage in some hazardous activities,” she said. The diplomat recommended that Guyana amend the list of hazardous work to prohibit children under age 18 from working in all listed sectors.
Trinidad also urged Guyana to address the root causes of human trafficking and provide the relevant training to law enforcement officials and judges to ensure that the perpetrators do not go unpunished. The Philippines made a similar recommendation and urged Guyana to enhance its cooperation with international partners. This matter was also mentioned by other countries.
Rodrigues-Birkett said that there is no evidence of widespread trafficking. “Let me say that the taskforce continues to work on this. We don’t have evidence of widespread trafficking but the very nature of trafficking I think one has to take that into account and so we’ve been having, working with the ministry responsible for mining and several other ministries, human services in this particular area,” she said.
A significant number of countries urged Guyana to abolish the death penalty and corporal punishment. Rodrigues-Birkett said that discussions are continuing on these matters. There were also a number of recommendations on administrative and if possible, legislative measures be taken by Guyana to increase the human, technical and financial resources available to the human rights commission and the three sectoral commissions and also to ensure that they are independent.
Botswana also noted reports of the persistence of harmful norms, practices and traditions, high prevalence of violence against women, and restrictions on freedom of peaceful assembly and expression and recommended that Guyana “adopt measures that ensure enjoyment of fundamental freedoms in law and practice.”
In terms of dealing with discrimination against children and persons with disabilities, the minister said Guyana has come a far way in this respect and said not only was a law passed but Guyana also ratified the convention on persons with disabilities. She said in terms of putting in place the necessary measures, this is being done in an incremental manner. She said public and private institutions, such as banks, are also putting in place the necessary measures to deal with persons with disabilities.
In relation to child mortality, which was raised by Ireland, she said this area is being worked on and noted infant mortality in 1991 was 120 per 1,000 and up to last year, the figure was reduced to 17 per 1,000 births. “This means that we have been making some progress but we will still have to continue to work on this,” she said. She said that attendance levels at nursery and primary schools are high and while there are drop-outs at the secondary level–mostly boys–the number is not alarming at this point.
