OAS gives gov’t high score for its democratic pursuits

Guyana has received high commendation from the Organisation of American States (OAS) for its remarkable efforts in fighting for the rights of its people.

OAS’ Secretary General, His Excellency, Luis Almagro gave the compliment Thursday (May 25, 2023), during an engagement with Guyana’s Civil Society at the Marriott Hotel in Kingston.

The Secretary General said Guyana has always been making headway for its people, which often aids in the further unification of the country. “Guyana has proven itself to be a great defender of democracy. Equally as important, Guyana continues to be a defender of human rights, especially Indigenous People’s rights, and Afro descendant’s rights, recognising to build a nation of unity, all people must be given equitable access to opportunities,” Almagro underscored.

He noted that Guyana has been one of the countries to instill crucial principles to always protect its people. “Its government has continued to reaffirm the principles set out on the US charter, which emphasises the protection and fundamental rights of an individual without distinction, to race, nationality, creed or sex,” the Secretary General said.

Acknowledging that the government has been going above and beyond for its people, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira said the achievement was only with the OAS’ support. “We are deeply appreciative of the Organisation

American States, the electoral observer mission heads, former Bruce Golding, and for the very force-right principal position of the OAS permanent councillor and yourself, in defending, protecting, the democracy of Guyana,” Minister Teixeira emphasised.

The government has committed to electoral and legislative reforms, contributing to the drive for democracy.

As such, efforts to promote transparency and accountability have seen the passage of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA) and the tabling of the National Registration (Amendment) Act. Additionally, the establishment of the Constitutional Reform Commission is representative of the government’s pledge to the maintenance of local democracy.

Rejection of APA’s complaint to ART-TREES

The Government of Guyana welcomes the conclusion of the independent ART-TREES grievance process and the rejection of the complaint made by the Amerindian Peoples’ Association (APA), including the associated call by the APA for the suspension of Guyana’s ART-TREES carbon credits.

As has been confirmed by the independent grievance process, the APA’s claims that it had not been appropriately consulted on Guyana’s ART-TREES issuance process were verifiably false.

The APA’s complaint had been made without the knowledge or support of any Indigenous communities in Guyana, and without even the knowledge or support of any of their elected leaders. Once the existence of the complaint was made public (by other parties, not by the APA), not a single Indigenous community supported it.

It is to their credit that the National Toshaos’ Council (NTC) spoke up on behalf of Indigenous communities to ensure that their voices would be heard. The NTC is comprised of leaders from every Indigenous community in Guyana. Those leaders are elected by their own communities, unlike those of the APA. The NTC continues to speak up on behalf of communities across the country, including raising issues with the Government to ensure that communities receive the benefits from the sale of carbon credits that they rightly expected.

Now that the APA’s complaint has been rejected, we hope that individuals and families who live in our indigenous villages and communities will be freed from the worry that their expected benefits will be jeopardised.

Guyana has earned US$150 million in payments from the sale of ART-TREES credits for the year 2023. Some 85% of this money is being invested in multi-community and national priorities identified by stakeholders during the seven-month con- sultation on the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030, while 15% - or GYD 4.7 Billion – has been directly transferred to village bank accounts for investment in village plans, put together by villages themselves. This Programme will see continuous financing flows to villages. A total of 242 communities are putting those plans together, and over 80 have already been completed to the standards required by village-led processes. In all cases, the village processes must culminate with a vote of approval from at least twothirds of all adult villagers present at village meetings (in many villages, support has been unanimous). All 242 communities have their own carbon credit bank accounts and finance committees chosen by villagers and community members.

On Thursday 18th May, the first 13 villages received a total of GYD187 million as they mobilise to invest in areas identified by community members. These include priorities as varied as building shade houses, improving local guesthouses for tourism, supporting cassava farming, providing craft classes and purchasing village tractors. Now that the call for their revenues to be suspended has clearly been rejected, communities can rest assured that their plans for unprecedented levels of financing will be realised.

This ends an unnecessary and negative attempt to override the freely expressed desire of communities to continue to participate in a process started in 2009 with the world’s first Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) from a developing country.

The process continues and the Government of Guyana hopes that all stakeholders who wish to do so will continue to engage with the LCDS 2030 as it continually evolves, and the country plots a development pathway to 2030 that values all Guyanese. [SEE