JUSTICE IS ABOUT RESPECTING HUMAN RIGHTS

Jul 29, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

---

Guyanese must look very seriously at the developments in the investigation into the fire that destroyed the Ministry of Health. There are many worrying aspects about this investigation.
Firstly, we have had once again, charges of torture being levelled against persons involved in the investigation.
This is not the first time that these charges have been made and cannot be said to be an attempt to divert attention from the real culprits behind the arson that levelled the Ministry.
A letter in the Monday edition of another newspaper, written by Dr. Rupert Roopnarine made mention that torture was not used against the persons who were arrested and subsequently charged with the burning down of the Ministry of National Mobilization in 1979.
My take on the letter is not that the writer was seeking to compare the abuses of the security forces then with what is being alleged today. There can be no such comparison.  Dr. Rupert Roopnarine is well-acquainted with the methods used in those days to extract confessions and information.
He is also well aware of the role of the security forces, including the military, in infiltrating political and social organizations, in surveillance of citizens, and in gross human rights abuses.
He is equally knowledgeable as to why a squad within the police force was nicknamed the “Death Squad”
The purpose of Dr. Roopnarine’s letter is no doubt to point the authorities in the direction of improving its human rights record in the area of criminal investigation.
He did this by pointing out the charges were laid in the 1979 arson case – charges which were never proven – without the use of torture or force.
The government of Guyana has however been extremely lax in dealing with charges of human rights abuses. I am sure that if Cheddi Jagan were alive he would have adopted a different course.
The PPP is, with each passing day, disgracing itself by its handling of these allegations, and unfortunately it is giving the security forces a bad name.
In the instance of the fire at the Ministry of Health, no specific allegation of torture has been made against the police. The fingers are pointing at the role of the military. I am convinced, also, that Commissioner of Police is committed to improving the human rights record of the Guyana Police Force.
There is evidence of this. I am confident that he is not pleased with the state of the Brickdam lockups and that he will, so long as the resources are available, take steps to bring about an improvement of this hell hole. I am also of the conviction that he will not readily dismiss charges of abuse made against members of the Guyana Police Force.
It is the government that I worried about and the consistent failure to have independent investigations into allegations of torture.
The PPP while in opposition had rightly railed against the human rights record of the PNC Government and thus one would have expected that it would have sought to achieve far greater improvements, particularly as regards the conduct of the security forces, in the questioning and interrogation of witnesses.
It is not too late for the PPP to do this and win the confidence of the people of Guyana and the international human rights committee.
This confidence is now urgently needed in light of what seems to be unfolding. It now seems that there was a politically conceived plot to destroy the Ministry of Health building on Brickdam.
As we know, Guyana is a badly divided polity and people are likely to seek to take sides in this matter and much more likely to justify this shameless action of taking sides when there are charges of torture against those involved in the investigation.
The firebombing of the Ministry of Health is not just an attack on the government. It is an act of violence against the people of Guyana. It has involved the destruction of the property of the people of Guyana and of a facility that served the people.
It is an act against the State of Guyana. It cannot be condoned. Those guilty of orchestrating this offence must be prosecuted with the full force of the law.
The State of Guyana must spare no effort in unraveling the plot and to have the intellectual authors and those who carried out their instructions to be brought to justice.
The support of the public is important since as we have seen, over the past years, public opinion can be manipulated against the security forces and the government.
Guyanese should not allow themselves to be divided on this issue. Those responsible for the destruction of the ministry must face the lawful consequences of their actions.
At the same time though, the government must ensure rigid compliance with internationally acceptable standards of interrogation. To bring the guilty to justice without compliance with acceptable standards would be a retrograde step. Justice is about respecting human rights.

---

---