Latest update April 4th, 2025 6:13 AM
Amnesty International concerned over continued police ill-treatment, violence against women
Police ill-treatment, Violence against women and girls and low conviction rates for sexual offences remain some of the major concerns that the international human rights group, Amnesty International (AI) has of Guyana.
Colwyn Harding
This was highlighted in its 2014/15 report.
The report drew attention to two recent incidents of alleged police brutality, which gained much local and international attention.
In one incident, Timehri resident Colwyn Harding alleged that he was sodomized with a police baton during his arrest by police on 15 November 2013, in Timehri.
On 2 June 2014, two police officers were charged with causing actual bodily harm, and one of them was also charged with common assault.
In the other incident that occurred on 30 April, 2014, 15-year-old Alex Griffith was allegedly shot in the mouth by a police officer playing “Russian roulette” with his firearm.
The police officer was investigating an armed robbery allegedly committed against a member of the officer’s family.
The officer was charged in June with unlawful assault and discharging a firearm with intent to maim.
Additionally, in May last year, another teenager, Junior Thornton had his hands doused with methylated
Junior Thornton
spirits and set on fire, while he was a prisoner at the Sparendaam Police Station lock-ups.
A police Constable is before the court for this incident.
The report made no mention of the controversial death of fisherman Asif Rahim Khartoon, who died late November last year, a few days after he was released from police custody.
The Director of Public Prosecutions recommended that disciplinary action be taken against several ranks.
With regard to violence against women and girls, the Amnesty International report stated that physical and sexual violence against women and girls remained a concern.
According to reports, more than 140 cases of rape had been reported to the police by early September last year and conviction rates for sexual offences remained low.
The report cited a statement from the Ministry of Legal Affairs in which it was stated in April last that there had been no conviction for sexual offences in any of the 22 cases heard in 2012 and 2013.
Only recently a popular promoter was freed of a rape in a much publicized High Court trial.
Implementation of the Sexual Offences Act, enacted in February 2013, and the National Domestic Violence Policy, launched in June 2008, remained very slow, the report noted, adding that concerns were raised by women’s rights advocates that there was no political will to fully implement either act.
“For example, judicial, law enforcement and health officials had not received sufficient training on the new acts, and the public had not been sufficiently made aware of the important changes to protect the lives of women and girls that came into force with the enactment of these laws. A National Plan for the Prevention of Sexual Violence had yet to be drafted, despite the new legislation stipulating its creation,” Amnesty International stated.
Freedom of expression in Guyana also attracted the attention of AI, which pointed to the threats of a Charlie Hebdo-style attack that was issued by Attorney General Anil Nandlall, in October last year.
In November, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights requested precautionary measures on behalf of the staff at the Kaieteur News after they received the threats.
According to Amnesty International, following commitments made during Guyana’s UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2010, the government finally began public consultations on Corporal Punishment in schools.
However, consultations into the abolition of the death penalty, the repeal of legislation criminalizing consensual same-sex relations, and discrimination against LGBTI people, to which the government also committed in 2010, had yet to begin by the end of last year.
In December, Guyana voted for the fifth time against a UN resolution to establish a moratorium on executions, despite the promise to hold a national consultation on the issue.
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