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Guyana was on Tuesday elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the period 2024–2025. This is Guyana’s third election, the previous being for the period 1975-1976 and 1982-1983 during the Forbes Burnham administration.
“Guyana is honoured and humbled by the confidence that has been expressed by the international community in electing us to this most important position of responsibility on the global stage,’ said President Irfaan Ali in reaction to the election.
The Security Council under the United Nations Charter has responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. According to Ali, it is a responsibility Guyana will assume with utmost seriousness and dedication, mindful of the complex and challenging times in which we live.
Further, he said, Guyana intends to be a constructive and engaged partner with the members of the Council and the wider international community in the search for solutions to the myriad of momentous challenges that beset our human family.
“The Government of Guyana looks forward to continuing our nation’s contribution to the strengthening of multilateralism and the rule of International Law, to the promotion of peace, sustainable development, human rights and respect for international law both for the people of our own country, and for peoples across the globe,” he mentioned.
Observers note, even as Ali talks up Guyana’s ascension to the Security Council and country’s commitment to the values of the Council at home he ignores the political opposition and working poor, disregard human rights and the rule of law.
Veteran trade unionist Mr. Lincoln Lewis was one such person. In conversation with Village Voice News, the trade unionist said Ali’s statement at the international level must be replicated at the local level. The regime violates, with impunity, the Constitution and Laws of Guyana, international conventions, and Guyanese human rights, some of which are, the right to freedom of speech, association, collective bargaining, pension and own property and freedom from want, he charged.
Lewis said the government’s refusal to fund economic projects in communities not led by members and supporters of the People’s Progressive Party is another threat to peace.
“When persons are denied social, economic and political justice, which the PPP is guilty of, such injustices create societal upheavals that could lead to internal conflicts such as war. Look around the world, most of the wars that are started are a result of tyrannical management of the state’s resources, abuse and exclusion of others, which is what we are witnessing in Guyana.”
Going further, Lewis said Ali needs to account to this nation for economic and political mismanagement on his watch which is deepening ethnic tensions and conflicts in the society. He said the Local Government campaign is one such instance where state resources are being used to buy votes for the PPP not to ensure a national policy and concomitant programmes that would ensure equitable, equal and accountable management for the nation’s resources for the benefit of all. “We are brewing our own war at home and the chief instigator is Irfaan Ali,” he asserted.
