A/HRC/10/11/Add.2
page 25
91. The Government should take steps to respond convincingly to perceptions that the
Afro-Guyanese community as a whole has been targeted during actions by the joint
services resulting in arbitrary detention without trial, torture, deaths and mistreatment in
custody, and other extrajudicial killings. Numerous specific cases brought to the attention
of the independent expert reveal issues with respect to thorough and transparent conduct
of investigations, due process and the rule of law. Urgent independent review of Guyana’s
security and law enforcement services and justice system is required.
92. The Government and both political parties should take full responsibility to ensure
that decisions taken to resolve conflicts are fully implemented. In February and
March 2008, the National Stakeholder Forum was convened and brought together all the
parliamentary parties and a broad cross-section of civil society organizations. To date, this
process and the positive consultation and dialogue that it established, has not materialized
into concrete, institutionalized forms of cooperation and conflict resolution. The
independent expert recommends that the following decisions of the national stakeholder
process be implemented as a matter of urgency:
• Establish as a matter of urgency a new Parliamentary Standing Committee on
National Security with ministerial representation26
• Expedite the appointment of those constitutional commissions which are key
features of the governance framework and still have not been established.
Guarantee that those who are appointed as commissioners have credibility with all
communities
• Convene and activate the Parliamentary Constitutional Reform Committee to
address issues presently before it and to examine further areas for constitutional
reform
• Ensure the meaningful and effective participation of civil society in these
parliamentary processes
• Explore an agreed mechanism for the continuation of the National Stakeholders’
Forum
93. An open and constructive dialogue on inclusive governance, as envisaged in
the 6 May 2003 communiqué and the follow-up agreement of 18 June, remains an essential
component of a new political climate of cooperation. The Government should demonstrate
leadership by meeting the preconditions set in those agreements and initiating such a
dialogue with all stakeholders at the earliest opportunity. Included in the agenda should be
models used in other countries with deeply divided ethnic communities to encourage the
formation of multi-ethnic political parties.
26
In a memorandum to the independent expert, the Government advises that the National
Assembly approved the constitutional amendment required on 29 January 2009 with the
Government and two of the three opposition parties (the AFC and GAP).