The PPP/C government will be submitting its response to the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) report on the violation of the rights of Isseneru villagers, according to Prime Minister Mark Phillips.
The Prime Minister made the commitment yesterday at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) seminar for Guyanese Members of Parliament.
“I wish to assure (the CPA) that the parliamentarians that form the government …are committed to the respect for the rule of law domestically and internationally…I wish to assure you that with regards to the Isseneru issue, we have unlike what was represented until June 20th to respond to the recommendations of the Inter American Commission for Human Rights,” the Prime Minister said.
The issue of the rights of indigenous Guyanese was raised by APNU+AFC MP Vincent Henry who told the seminar that “the existential rights of the indigenous people of Guyana is under serious threat by the Government of Guyana.”
He added “The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on being petitioned by the indigenous village of Isseneru requested that the government of Guyana conduct reparations. This is a hallmark ruling on behalf of all indigenous peoples but this government in an attempt to nullify the petition, use the argument that the Isseneru community members have lost their traditional culture in aspects such as their building material, architecture, their farming system. The state particularly emphasized that most of the members of the community have converted to Christianity, and they do not preserve an ancestral spiritual connection to their territory.”
He further stated that the defence by the government is tantamount to disqualifying all indigenous people for adapting.
Prime Minister Phillips, in response, committed to ensuring that the government’s response is submitted before June 20, 2022.
“So, I take this opportunity to assure all present in person and virtually that the parliamentarians that represent the government are committed to upholding the rule of law in Guyana and upholding international law,” he assured.
The IACHR found that the Government of Guyana is guilty of violating the rights of the Region Seven village and its villagers and according to the community’s leader the violations have intensified. The ruling was contained in a December 2021 report of the Commission following a case filed by the village and the Amerindian Peoples Association of Guyana back in September 2013.
IACHR recommended that the Government of Guyana adopt the necessary measures to ensure that the Region Seven Amerindian village of Isseneru and its members receive “full reparations for the material and immaterial damages they suffered on the account of the violation of their human rights.”
“The reparations must include measures of compensation, satisfaction and any other which are deemed appropriate in accordance with the Inter-American Standards including the provision of any required health care services to community members affected by environmental pollution,” the IACHR recommended in its report.
The appeal to the IACHR partly stemmed from two High Court rulings against the village’s objections to mining projects. Back in 2013, Justice Diana Insanally made orders granted to miner Joan Chang against the Isseneru Village Council and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) binding. Members of the Village Council had claimed that the mining company was mining on titled lands without the council’s permission under the Amerindian Act and despite subsequent Cease Work Orders (CWOs) issued by the GGMC mining officer. Justice Insanally pointed out in her ruling that by virtue of Chang being granted a licence to mine prior to the coming into operation of the Amerindian Act of 2006, the Village Council had no authority to stop the operation and the GGMC no authority to issue the CWOs.
On August 13, 2008, a similar judgment was made in the High Court in the case of Lalta Narine v Isseneru.
Last month, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN CERD) wrote to the Guyana Government requesting that it provide a response, no later than July 15, 2022, to allegations of various rights violations relating to the indigenous community of Chinese Landing and the Wapichan people.
In the April 29, 2022 letter addressed to Chargé d’ Affaires of Guyana at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Kerrlene Wills, Chair of UN CERD, Verene Shepherd highlighted the complaints that the Committee received as well as Guyana’s non-response to various letters requesting information.
UN CERD’s Chair said, “…the Committee profoundly regrets the State party’s lack of reply to its letters of 17 May and 14 December 2018, regarding this situation.” It added “The Committee regrets that the State party has yet to submit its reply to the list of issues prior to submission of the fifteenth and sixteenth periodic reports that are overdue since November 2021. In this regard, the Committee requests the State party to submit the overdue reply as a matter of urgency.”
