Guyana's Human Righst Record Stands up to Scrutiny

Teixeira defends Guyana’s human rights record, slams media reports
Written by Johann Earle
Wednesday, 19 May 2010 02:41
Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira, slammed media reports on the just completed United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR), saying that Guyana did well on many fronts – including human rights – and that many of the recommendations are in the process of being implemented. Teixeira, a former Government Minister, had been part of a three-person delegation which visited Geneva for the review. She spoke to members of the media from her office at the Office of the President yesterday.
Head of the delegation was Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, who will host a press conference on the UPR on Friday.
Teixeira said that Guyana did well at this review, despite what she referred to as distortions and opportunism in certain sections of the media. She said that the very day that Guyana had to report to Geneva, there were anti-nationalist statements made about Guyana’s human rights record. Reports in other sections of the media highlighted recommendations made that Guyana should launch an official investigation into the claims of extra-judicial killings and phantom squads.
“We had 32 countries present who had presented questions to the floor; it was a very formal process that had to be done by all the countries...I just want [for the purpose] to answer some of these distortions in the press because the Guyanese public was fed with a diet of negativism,” she said.
Teixeira said that many countries had very positive things to say about Guyana’s efforts, particularly its inclusive model of governance, its participatory democracy and its poverty reduction efforts, including reduction of infant child and maternal mortality, all the interventions in health, education, water and also the Low Carbon Development Strategy. She said that the countries that gave commendations on Guyana’s efforts were Algeria, Brazil, Cuba, China, Norway, Libya, Chile, Slovenia, Spain, France, Pakistan, Bolivia, Mexico, Germany, Argentina, The Maldives, Uruguay, Australia, Latvia, Italy, the United States of America, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Slovenia, and Haiti. Teixeira said that even Canada, which had made certain recommendations about Guyana, had to admit to advances that Guyana had made. She said that the negative comments came from the United Kingdom and Sweden.
Teixeira said that 57 of the recommendations that were made Guyana has accepted, and is implementing the majority of them. She said that in relation to the 55 that Guyana has to report on, 27 of these recommendations are in three main areas. These are the call for Guyana to establish a moratorium on the death penalty, the call to decriminalise gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered activities in Guyana’s criminal offences, and the removal of corporal punishment. She said that these are the three areas that made up 50 percent of what Guyana had to report on. She said that the others, of which only three relate to security issues in terms of investigation, were tabled by Canada and the United Kingdom.
The Presidential Advisor encouraged the media and the public to “do some homework” and look up the progress that Guyana has made as mentioned in the UPR, the recommendations and Guyana’s response. She said that in comparison to other countries “Guyana did well and I think that we should be proud as a nation that a relatively new democratic nation has made such advances when you look at other countries in the hemisphere.”
Teixeira said that Canada was found to have issues of discrimination in terms of its indigenous peoples and their land rights, violence against them, as well as racial profiling of persons of Muslim persuasion and of African descent. She said that the United Kingdom was also found to have cases of violence, torture and long detentions. The Advisor pointed out that the recommendations of the United States on Guyana were mild compared to those of the United Kingdom. She said too that the United States had complimentary comments to make on Guyana, contrary to what was reported in another section of the media.
“We have to get a perspective in Guyana of how we have fared, and we have fared relatively well” Teixeira said. She said that the assessment is meant to be ongoing to encourage countries to keep moving forward. She said that the recommendations that Guyana have accepted are saying that the country should continue to reduce poverty and to reduce domestic violence.
“So I think that we, as a country, should be proud of our track record as a country that is only 18 years [as a democracy] in which we have brought legislation that makes torture prohibited in our Constitution. “Many countries have not done that,” she said, adding that Guyana has also passed legislation against domestic violence and human trafficking, something that many countries have not done.
“When we look at Guyana, we feel that the process is fair, we were given a fair hearing, and we were able to present the case of Guyana, the challenges we face as a developing country, and the progress that we have made, and we will continue towards working to advance our country and the quality of life for our people,” Teixeira said.
“We will be having a press conference with Minister [Rodrigues-Birkett] when she returns, but we thought it was important to give the Guyanese public a quick overview, and also to say to the media, ‘do your homework and stop being opportunistic to show Guyana in a bad light’,” she said.
“All we’re asking for is balance. We want a balanced report, as we had in the international [arena]. Why should we not expect that [at home]?” she said.
The former Health and Home Affairs minister said that the delegation was the only one headed by a woman, the only one that comprised a female majority and the only one headed by a person of Indigenous origins in the person of Minister Rodrigues-Birkett. She said that the media should have researched and reported on these tidbits.