Parliamentary committee to review abolition of corporal punishment, death penalty, same sex marriages
Georgetown, GINA, August 10, 2012 -- Source - GINA
Last evening the National Assembly agreed to have the motion moved by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds for the abolition of corporal punishment in the schools, the abolition of the death penalty, the de-criminilisation of consensual adult same sex relations and discrimination against lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals and transgender persons, sent to a Special Select Committee for further consultations.
Moving the motion, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds said that Guyana appeared before the United Nations Human Rights Council during the first cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in May 2010 and in September 2010. He added that public consultations with target groups and in geographic regions have commenced on these matters as well as public discussions in the media and amongst civil society organisations, however government is of the view that parliamentary consideration of these three matters would enhance the national examination procedurally by being the subject of a Special Select Committee which would organise the national consultations in a complementary, credible way.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds speaking to the motion moved in his name last evening in Parliament
Opposition Chief Whip Amna Ally, concurred that the motion be sent to a select committee. Focusing on corporal punishment, she said its removal engages the populace with mixed views as it brings to bare attitude of parents towards their children at home, teachers and pupils at schools and sometimes venturing out to the wider society.
Ally recommended that the House dispense of absolute measures of corporal punishment; recognise that beatings drive fear in the children resulting in runaways, dropouts, early childhood retaliation and an advanced form of child labour; and the need to advance mechanisms for teachers and parents to inculcate new measures of discipline such as a reward or punishment without brutal force for activities.
Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said that the motion seeks to speak to a condition that contains/seeks to determine sensitive issues, not only in Guyana but around the world.
“The motions we bring here today is for consideration so that we could determine what will happen as a nation…we recognise the sensitivity of these issues and not determine one way or the other or judge people one way or the other,” Manickchand said.
Government’s Chief Whip and Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira during the presentation on a motion moved by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds
The Education Minister added that whilst everyone would hold opposing views on the issues at hand, further consultations must be held to ensure that every citizen can enjoy the rights, enshrined to them by the constitution.
Government’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira said that the government is pleased to bring such a motion to the House because it pertains to serious issues that need to be addressed.
“In the UPR…you are questioned by the countries present and they make recommendations, not a committee that has to agree saying you have to do this…it is an interesting process to which the first cycle has already finished and in the second review cycle Guyana will be reviewed around 2016,” Teixeira explained.
She added that on the issue of de-criminalisation of same sex consensual adult relations “…we seem to think that people think it is a modern occurrence where the decadence of modern society is broad…the emergence of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender…in fact, if we go through history we will find that it goes back thousands of years,” Teixeira said.
She added that in Guyana there is an interesting way of dealing with the issue, ‘whilst we are not a violent country against persons who are lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender persons, … persons refuse to know what people do in their bedrooms, and they ask not to comment about it, or for the issue to be put in their faces.”
Whilst the opposition concurred that the issue should be sent to a Select Committee, AFC MP Moses Nagamootoo believes that each issue should be separated and sent individually to a Select Committee to allow more in-depth consultation.
However, Teixeira argued that the idea behind the motion being moved to a Select Committee is to create the right environment for the opposition, government and other stakeholders, to come and air their views as part of public consultations.
The motion seeks to have the National Assembly adopt the terms of reference which will guide the work of the Special Select Committee in the determination of: the attitude of Guyanese, especially parents and children, to corporal punishment and its possible abolition; the attitude of Guyanese, particularly the families of victims, criminologists and professionals on capital punishment and its possible abolition and the attitude of Guyanese of any changes in the legislative provisions and criminal code regarding consensual adult same sex relationships and discrimination, perceived or real, against lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals and transgender persons.