The United Nations Human Rights Committee has been told by the Guyanese Government that the country’s citizens will be the ones making the decision as it pertains to the death penalty.
This comes even as Guyana’s Government has not shown any intention of boosting their capacity to conduct executions under their current laws.
Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira said a similar process was undertaken between 1999- 2001 and the popular view was that the death penalty should remain on the books, Loop News reports.
Guyana and other Caribbean countries have come under pressure from several international agencies, including the International Commission against the Death Penalty, to abolish the death penalty that they consider to be cruel and inhumane punishment.
Guyana has not carried out an execution since 1997 and political and legal observers said that although the death penalty has not been removed from the Constitution or the statute, the matter will have to go back to Parliament.
