The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee is attracting criticism for the posture and questions posed by one of its members to Guyana’s Minister ofGovernance and Parliamentary Affairs Gail Teixeira, during a reporting session this week.
On Thursday, Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo dismissed the questions and statements of concern put to Teixeira as the usual issues raised by the political opposition on a daily and weekly basis.
“This is all APNU propaganda, every bit of it…we have dispelled these issues before,” Jagdeo said at Freedom House on Thursday during a People’s Progressive Party press conference.
He raised specific concerns with the fact that these issues were only raised by Committee member Laurence Helfer who agitated the session with his questions on a number of issues related to the Guyana Police Force, allegations of corruption and an affront to press freedom.
Teixeira defended the government by stating the facts though the report submitted by the government to the committee dealt with matters up to 2021 and not the other issues raised, many relating to incidents in the years after.
“I have not seen people carrying details of the report… it is a comprehensive report addressing all the issues… corruption, rigging of elections,” Jagdeo said, but he believes Teixeira was not given enough time and latitude to respond.
And so, he said the government will submit in writing its response to all the questions asked by the committee.
“Every one of these issues, we will address in writing and we will ask them to publish our responses,” he added.
In addition, Jagdeo said the government will ask the committee to publish or provide the reports of those individuals who made submissions of complaints.
Unlike the United States of America and the United Kingdom, Guyana is among the few countries that allow individual complaints to be made to the UN Human Rights Committee.
“All the issues raised by Helfer were addressed already, they were raised by the PNC.
“This is not new, it is the same old PNC rhetoric,” Jagdeo added.
He believes it is unfortunate that false narratives have made their way within the halls of the UN and questioned the motive and association of Helfer who hails from New York where Rickford Burke resides.
Helfer referred to Burke when he raised concerns about the government seeking to silence critics and social media influencers. Again, Jagdeo said this can be likened to the utterances of opposition operatives like Burke. According to Jagdeo, the government, in its written response, will prove the criminal nature of Burke.
Jagdeo said despite the questions, there were no adverse findings against Guyana.
Earlier this week, President Dr. Irfaan Ali noted that the committee has given the government a positive review, despite queries raised by the single member of the committee.
The queries were rejected for echoing the unfounded narrative of the political opposition, rather than adopting an approach grounded in facts and evidence.
President Ali, when contacted by the News Room on Tuesday, said: “First of all, this issue was not raised as a substantive matter by the HR committee of the UN. An individual member, who is obviously fed with the propaganda of opposition operatives, raised a query in line with the narrative of the opposition, trying to paint the Government in a particular light.”
He further stated, “The reference to corruption was not based on any evidence or facts but was more or less a parroted position by an individual on the committee. Unfortunately, this member found himself in a trap that the opposition historically used against the PPP/C Government.”
