The United Nations Human Rights Committee today issued a call for the Government of Guyana to expand its efforts to adopt and implement, efficient, and prompt measures to promote good governance and combat corruption and impunity at all levels of government.

In its report following the Guyana’s periodic review last week, the UN Human Rights Committee today said while it has noted the adoption of several laws and regulations by the country to combat corruption, it remains concerned that the institutional framework to combat corruption is not yet sufficiently strong and effective in practice to adequately prevent or prosecute corruption, including in the Police Force and of high-level public officials.

The UN Committee also expressed its concern about reports that the Commissioner of Information does not address all requests from the public; and the Protected Disclosures and Witness Protection Act is not yet being enforced.

The UN Human Rights Committee said it wants to see Guyana adopt concrete measures to address the root causes of corruption as a matter of priority, and to ensure that all corruption cases, including cases of those involved in high level corruption and corruption in the police force, are independently and impartially investigated and prosecuted, and that perpetrators, if convicted, are sanctioned with
penalties commensurate with the seriousness of the offence, and that victims receive full reparation.

In its report, the UN Human Rights Committee also urged the implementation of measures necessary to ensure, in practice, the independence, effectiveness, transparency, and accountability of all anti-corruption bodies, including the Auditor’s General Office, the Commissioner of Information, the Integrity
Commission, and the Public Procurement Commission.

The Committee has also issued a call on the Government to ensure that the right of access to information held by Commissioner of Information can be effectively exercised in practice, and the the Government should also effectively protect whistle-blowers and witnesses and bring the Protected Disclosures and Witness Protection Act into force.

Turning its attention to the oil and gas sector, the UN Human Rights Committee said it is concerned about reports of corruption, lack of transparency and accountability in the management of natural resources, particularly in the oil and gas extractive sector.

It also expressed concern about reports of corruption by public officials in this sector, and the lack of information on measures taken to investigate such allegations.

The UN Human Rights Committee said the Government of Guyana should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the management of its natural resources is not subject to corruption, adding that the Government should also ensure that permits granted for the exploitation of natural resources and licenses to exploit oil fields undergo adequate prior environmental and societal impact assessments carried out in a systematic and transparent manner, with a meaningful participation of all affected communities.

The UN body said the Guyana Government should ensure prompt, thorough, independent, and impartial investigations into reports of corruption in awarding public contracts and prosecute cases.

Governance Minister Gail Teixeira appeared before the UN Human Rights Committee last week and was peppered with a number of questions regarding corruption, the oil and gas sector, the environment, the justice system, child labour and other related matters.

The Government has said the UN Committee should do more investigations of complaints it receives before pronouncing on them.

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