Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Guyana.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Guyana. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Guyana U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/guyana/
[accessed 22 July
2021] PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS In 2018 the government
released the findings of a 2017 independent study funded by the
Inter-American Development Bank that found prison officers physically abused
prisoners. In 2018 the government reported the UN Working Group of Experts on
People of African Descent found that prison conditions at Lusignan
Prison were appalling and cells were unfit for human habitation. Prisoners
reported unsanitary conditions and a lack of potable water, and they also
complained of lengthy confinement in their cells with limited opportunities
for sunlight. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Pretrial Detention:
Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem, due primarily to judicial
inefficiency, staff shortages, and cumbersome legal procedures. The average length
of pretrial detention was three years for those awaiting trial at a
magistrates’ court or in the High Court. This often exceeded the maximum
possible sentence for the crime for which they were charged. Freedom House
Country Report - 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/guyana/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 12 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Police violence,
abuse of detainees, and harsh, overcrowded prison conditions persist in
Guyana. Torture at Sparendaam Police Station Leroy Smith and Asif
Hakim, Guyana Chronicle, 3 June 2014 guyanachronicle.com/torture-at-sparendaam-police-station/ [accessed 8 June
2014] guyanachronicle.com/2014/06/03/torture-at-sparendaam-police-station [accessed 26 July
2017] After taking it
upon himself to pour methylated spirits on the hands of a 19-year-old boy and
then setting them alight at the Sparendaam Police Station, the aberrant
police officer got the father of the teen to sign a document for $100,000,
which was handed over to him. The Guyana
Chronicle was informed that the intention of the police officer were to
induce the relatives of the young man to consider it as a form of
compensation, thus persuading them from pursuing the matter in court. It was a time of
torture and mayhem Neil Adams, Guyana
Chronicle, 6 May 2014 guyanachronicle.com/it-was-a-time-of-torture-and-mayhem/ [accessed 8 May
2014] guyanachronicle.com/2014/05/06/it-was-a-time-of-torture-and-mayhem [accessed 26 July
2017] Those who opposed
the PNC (however mild their criticism) were either rounded up, tortured, or
even killed, and Rodney’s murder is a case in point. Talk about man’s
inhumanity to man, those were the days – days of extreme police brutality as
some persons just simply disappeared and, to add insult to injury, no one
dared question the actions of the police. The police was “owned and
controlled” by the PNC Regime. So, when I hear present day jokers the likes
of Freddie Kissoon and Ramjattan speak of police brutality and extra judicial
killings I gasp in disbelief and wonder which part of the world these guys
lived when the ‘PNC brigade’, that’s the name I called the police then, held
sway. PNCR to seek probe
of all police torture, shootings over last 20 years Stabroek News, 25
Jan 2014 www.stabroeknews.com/2014/news/stories/01/25/pncr-seek-probe-police-torture-shootings-last-20-years/ [accessed 28 Jan
2014] The People’s
National Congress Reform (PNCR) today said that it will move to have every
act of torture or shooting by the police over the last 20 years investigated. Brigadier David
Granger. In his address Granger said that the PNCR was committed to
inclusionary democracy and respect for workers. Towards this end he said that
the party had declared 2014 Year for Workers and A Partnership for National
Unity (APNU} had called for a social contract to promote national unity,
ensure human safety and foster economic development. The party leader
reminded the Council that the PNCR started as a working class party and
pledged the party’s continued support for the working men and women in
Guyana. Granger also said that APNU would advocate for the human rights of
all Guyanese citizens. He said that the
Partnership will seek to have investigated every act of torture in the
last 20 years; every shooting in the past 20 years; Brigadier Granger said
“we (PNCR) will work to protect the
rights of persons who suffer police brutality and will not rest until there
is good governance. Acts of torture by
Guyanese police must be punished Amnesty
International AI, 4 November 2009 www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/acts-torture-guyanese-police-must-be-punished-20091104 [accessed 22 Jan
2014] www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2009/11/acts-torture-guyanese-police-must-be-punished-20091104/ [accessed 26 July 2017] Media in the
Caribbean country report that two police officers were detained in connection
with the torture of the 15-year-old boy.
The teenager was arrested on 27 October and taken the next day to
Leonora police station, 12 miles west of the capital Georgetown, where he was
beaten. When he refused to sign a
confession, police officers held him down and doused his genital area with a
flammable liquid, which they set alight.
He was not given proper medical treatment or access to legal
representation until 31 October, despite repeated attempts by his lawyers and
family to see him. Deonarine Rafick
was struck by a piece of wood on his back, legs, buttocks, face and scalp,
while being held in Leonora on 27 October. According to his testimony, the
inside of his mouth was also burnt with cigarettes. He was forced to sign a confession stating
that he was involved in the murder. His lawyers were only granted access to
him on 29 October despite repeated previous attempts. He was brought before a court and charged
with murder on 30 October. His face was visibly bruised and the wound on his
scalp had not been stitched. He is
currently in prison pending a preliminary investigation. According to his
lawyer and family, he has not yet received medical attention. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/GUY/CO/1
(2006) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/guyana2006.html [accessed 1 March
2013] D. Subjects of
concern and recommendations 6. The Committee notes
that it is not clear whether all acts of torture are offences under the State
party’s criminal law (arts. 1 and 4). The State party
should take the necessary legislative measures to ensure that all acts of
torture are offences under its criminal law in accordance with the definition
contained in article 1 of the Convention, and that these offences are
punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave
nature. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty International
Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=guyana+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 2 January 1, 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61730.htm [accessed 29 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61730.htm [accessed 4 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – Although the law
prohibits torture, and there no reports of its use, allegations of police
abuse of suspects continued. The PCA received 61 complaints of unlawful
arrest and 3 of unnecessary use of violence during the year. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Guyana
", http://gvnet.com/torture/Guyana.htm, [accessed <date>] |
