The US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) recently conducted training programmes for senior members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Judiciary.

The training was the second in a series of training initiatives for Guyana’s criminal justice sector. The first one took place in January and over 150 members of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Prison Service participated.

“The training focused on the Department of State Leahy Law, which prohibits State assistance to foreign security forces if there is credible information that a security force unit has committed a gross violation of human rights (GVHR), to include extrajudicial killings, torture, forced disappearance, or rape under the color of law,” the statement from the US Embassy said.

The training reviewed the consequences of committing gross Human Rights Violation, and the information and reporting standards required to demonstrate that the government of the country is taking effective steps to bring the responsible members of the security forces unit to justice before the resumption of assistance can be considered.

This series of training on the State Leahy law is part of the US government’s commitment to supporting the professionalism of Guyana’s criminal justice sector and promoting respect and protection of human rights.

Through the United States’ Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), the U.S. Embassy has facilitated the training of 889 police officers in various law enforcement areas, including major case management, forensic video analysis, narcotics investigations, and intelligence gathering.

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