A contingent of four organisations representing the Guyana Equality Forum (GEF) made presentations on discrimination in the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights in Guyana at the 154th session of hearings before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on March 20, in Washington, DC.
The groups representing the GEF were the Sisterhood of Support, Services and Sustainability (S4) Foundation, the Guyana Organisation of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP), the Deaf Association of Guyana (DAG) and the Society against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), while Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and the Ambassador to the US and the Organisation of American States (OAS) Barney Karran represented the state of Guyana.
According to a statement from the group, key issues they highlighted included, gender inequality, violence and its social-economic impact on the lives of women and girls, trafficking in persons and cultural genocide, the right to language and education for deaf persons as well as the discrimination facing the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people in Guyana.
Speaking on behalf of S4, Imarah Radix said the organisation has on record reports of women not knowing their rights, numerous incidents where women and young girls suffer from domestic violence, sexual abuse as well as stigma and discrimination from police and trafficking of young girls. Radix was quoted as saying women and girls continue to suffer from maternity deaths, teenage pregnancy, trafficking in persons, rape, crime and violence, and sexual harassment in the workplace, which disproportionally affect how they access their economic, cultural and social rights.
The issue of trafficking in persons was also addressed by Chief of GOIP Colin Klautky, who stated that trafficking of Indigenous girls and women is an issue of grave concern for his organisation and by extension the Indigenous Peoples of Guyana. “One indigenous girl trafficked is one too much,” Klautky said.
He also spoke on cultural genocide, while highlighting how close the language of the Indigenous people is to extinction. He listed traditional languages of the Lokono, Carib and Warau tribes as prime examples. Recommendations to combat the issues of trafficking of indigenous persons as well as extinction of traditional languages made by Klautky included having the state provide the necessary resources needed to protect young girls and women as well as adding the languages to the school’s curriculum in their respective Indigenous communities.
DAG Director Sabine McIntosh highlighted the numerous factors hindering the development of the deaf community in Guyana. McIntosh cited a trip she made earlier in the year to Region Nine, where none of the relevant authorities had any knowledge or record on how many deaf persons are living in the region.
She further listed Guyana’s lack of special educational facilities for children suffering from hearing impediments as another sore point, while also recommending that the state provides schools with special resources that would help in meeting the needs of such students, including the teaching of sign language. She noted that such initiatives would help to promote the efforts of persons trying to access vocational training and employment in society.
Also addressing the Commission was Joel Simpson, the Managing Direction of SASOD, who said it is indisputable that the state of Guyana discriminates against LGBT people in law and policy. Simpson went on to highlight issues of criminalisation of same sex intimacy, cross-dressing and exclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity as the basis for discrimination in the law.
Simpson also cited reported incidences of homophobic and transphobic discrimination as a result of the laws and the State failing to offer any redress. “Anti-LGBT discrimination is rampant in the labour market, in both the public and private sectors,” he said.
“The State has a duty to respect, protect and fulfil human rights for all Guyanese. The State violates human rights when it has discriminatory laws on the books and actively enforces them,” he was also quoted as saying.
According to the statement, when given the opportunity to address the gathering, Minister Rodrigues-Birkett chose to speak on the strides made by the Government of Guyana in dealing with the issues mentioned by the respective organisations. Some of these strides included conducting sensitisation campaigns aimed at reducing domestic violence, operational measures used to tackle trafficking in indigenous communities, initiatives that are in place to preserve Amerindian languages as well as the creation of a special committee in the previous parliament which addresses human rights, including those of the LGBT community.
However, the Minister also made the step to acknowledge that there is still more work to be done in order to protect the rights of Guyanese. Moreover, she expressed her willingness and enthusiasm to further engage and collaborate with organisations to effectively address the issues raised at the hearing.
The participation of the GEF at the IACHR thematic hearing was funded by the delegation of the European Union to Guyana through a grant to the London based Equal Rights Trust and SASOD.
