Dear Editor,
The Guyana Rastafari Council notes with great concern the recent incident involving members of the Guyana Police Force recently executing an arrest of a member of the Rastafari community in the village of Melanie, and condemns in the strongest terms. The cruel and inhumane tactics used by the Guyana Police Force during the process of the arrest which was reminiscent of the tactics used by the police to kill George Floyd in the US.
The fact that members of the Rastafari community still have to experience this barbaric and inhumane treatment by agents of the state should bring shame and disgrace to the government of Guyana, and be condemned by all impartial and right thinking Guyanese.
Why is this still happening in 2023 after a visit from a UN Working Group of Experts in 2017 who recommended that the government of Guyana should amend the law to recognise the religious and cultural rights of Rastafari; after CARICOM Marijuana Commission also recommended that whether legalization or decriminalization states should recognise the rights of Rastafari and even the US embassy in Guyana in its most recent report to the state department on religious freedom noted with concern the continuous claims of religious discrimination by the Rastafari community.
Every state in CARICOM that has amended its Narcotic Act has recognized the religious and cultural rights of Rastafari to use cannabis with Antigua and St Kitts even offering public apologies for the decades of state discrimination. The government has failed to uphold the human and constitutional rights of the Rastafari community by not hearkening to the calls by the international community, CARICOM and the stakeholders who participated in the farced consultation that was put on before the government arbitrarily and unilaterally amended the Narcotic Act of Guyana.
We are calling on the Ethnic Relations Commission to uphold its mandate to ensure that the Rastafari community is protected from discrimination and also on the government to immediately condemn this recent action by members of the GPS and publicly commit to ensuring that the necessary legislative action will be taken to protect the rights of the Rastafari Community.
Wayzero Tekla
Chairperson
Guyana Rastafari Council
