Navi Pillay ups call on gov’t to expunge death penalty

Thursday, July 21

Guyana should remove the death penalty from its terrorism legislation and all other parts of the law books, former UN Commissioner on Human Rights Navi Pillay said yesterday, arguing that its retention goes against international humanitarian law. “The concern is you don’t pass a law just because something terrible has happened. Law is not done emotionally. The rule of law follows international standards and Guyana is very much a part of the international community… and so they have vowed to pass laws that are certain and definite and not responding each time there is a terrorism act committed here, in France and elsewhere,” she said. Pillay, now a Commissioner of the International Commission against the Death Penalty and two other human rights experts addressed a news conference just moments before the start of a Judicial Colloquium on the Abolition of the Death Penalty. Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Carl Singh, judges and magistrates attended the one-day forum which was held at the Marriott Hotel. While the state has not enacted the death penalty here since 1997 and the present APNU+AFC administration has not shown any inclination to change this, it has been criticised for assigning the death penalty for 14 offences under anti-money laundering legislation passed last year.