On the 14th day of September 2012 the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations delivered its ruling. The contents of the ruling were as follows:
“ After careful consideration of the contents of your communications, we sincerely regret having to inform you that the Petitions Unit of the United Nations Office of the High Commission for Human Rights is not in a position to assist you in the matter you raise, as the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination cannot examine petitions alleging violations of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) unless the State has made a declaration under article 14 recognizing the Committee’s competence to receive and consider petitions. Guyana has not made the declaration.”
Article 154 A (1)of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana provides, “every person, as contemplated by the respective international treaties set out in the Fourth Schedule to which Guyana has acceded is entitled to the human rights enshrined in the said international treaties and such rights shall be respected and upheld by the executive, the legislature , judiciary and all organs and agencies of the Government and, where applicable to them, by all natural and legal persons and shall be enforceable in the manner herein prescribed.”
Article 154 A (4) of the Constitution provides, “If any person alleges that any of the rights referred to in paragraph (1) has been, is being or is about to be contravened in relation to him or her, then, without prejudice to any other action with respect to the same manner which is lawfully available, that person may apply to the Human Rights Commission in such manner as the Commission may prescribe for redress.”
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is one of the conventions enshrined in Article 154A of the Guyana Constitution. Lincoln Lewis complained to the United Nations Human Rights Commission about the editorial published by the Guyana Chronicle on the 3rd July 2012. Mr. Lewis has been unable to seek any redress under the Convention in Guyana because no Human Rights Commission has been established despite the passage of ten years since the incorporation of the treaty into the Constitution of Guyana and he has been unable to enforce his rights under the treaty at the United Nations Human Rights Commission because the Government of Guyana has failed or refused to recognize the Committee established by the United Nations Human Rights Commission to hear complaints filed by citizens against the State of Guyana claiming racial discrimination.
The effect is that what was sold to the public many years ago as a great advance in constitutional law effected as a result of the changes made to the Constitution pursuant to the Hermandston Accord and the St Lucia statement, where citizens would be have been able to directly enforce rights conferred upon them under the treaty, is in effect an awful hoax played out on the citizenry as they cannot enforce any right under the treaty, as no Human Rights Commission has been established in Guyana and the Government of Guyana has failed or refused to recognize the United Nations Human Rights Commission Committee’s competence to receive and consider complaints of racial; discrimination made by citizens of Guyana against the Government of Guyana under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
How much more deceptive can a Government get with the fundamental rights of its citizens not to be discriminated against on the grounds of race?
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