{"id":10467,"date":"2025-06-16T09:26:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T14:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/?p=10467"},"modified":"2025-06-16T09:26:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T14:26:35","slug":"alliance-for-change-calls-for-the-repeal-of-blasphemous-libel-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/?p=10467","title":{"rendered":"Alliance for Change calls for the repeal of Blasphemous libel laws."},"content":{"rendered":"

Georgetown, Guyana
\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – to all media
\nJune 16, 2025
\nPRESS RELEASE<\/strong>
\nAlliance for Change calls for the repeal of Blasphemous libel laws.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Alliance for Change (AFC) calls on all members of the National Assembly to repeal the archaic and incompatible offence of blasphemous libel from Guyana\u2019s statute books.
\nThis colonial-era law stands in direct contradiction to Article 146 of the Constitution, International human rights obligations, including Guyana\u2019s commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Guyana is a State Party.<\/p>\n

Blasphemous libel laws, by their very nature, criminalize expressions of religious critique or dissent and pose a chilling effect on free speech and open discourse in a democratic society. Such provisions are not only outdated, but inconsistent with Article 146 of the Constitution and Article 19 of the ICCPR, which guarantee the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers.<\/p>\n

The United Nations Human Rights Committee, in its General Comment No. 34, has clearly stated that prohibitions of displays of lack of respect for a religion or other belief system, including blasphemy laws, are incompatible with the Covenant, except in very narrow circumstances such as direct incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.<\/p>\n

In keeping with these principles and in line with global human rights trends, we urge all members of the National Assembly to act swiftly to:
\nRepeal all legislation criminalizing blasphemy or religious insult, including blasphemous libel;
\nAffirm the primacy of freedom of expression in a pluralistic democracy;
\nEnsure that any limitations on speech meet the strict tests of legality, necessity, and proportionality under international law.<\/p>\n

Countries across the Commonwealth and beyond\u2014such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland\u2014have recognized the untenability of blasphemy laws in modern democracies and have acted decisively to abolish them. Guyana must do the same.<\/p>\n

This is a moment for principled leadership. We call on all members of the National Assembly, civil society, and faith communities to stand united in defending the rights of all Guyanese to speak freely, question authority, and engage in robust dialogue without fear of persecution.<\/p>\n

END<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Georgetown, Guyana FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – to all media June 16, 2025 PRESS RELEASE Alliance for Change calls for the repeal of Blasphemous libel laws. The Alliance for Change (AFC) calls on all members of the National Assembly to repeal the archaic and incompatible offence of blasphemous libel from Guyana\u2019s statute books. This colonial-era law […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6741,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latestnews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-09-30-at-5.04.08-PM.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4F7T1-2IP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afcguyana.com\/afcnew\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}