AN ADVISORY TO THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST, AND PEOPLE, OF GUYANA …

DOSSIER FOR SUBMISSION TO GUYANA’S PARLIAMENT AND THE “STAMP IT OUT” TASK FORCE
ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN

The overall aim: provide the church and citizenry with effective overview of the main issues!
Corrections? Suggestions? Need help/clarifications?: E-mail: RogerWilli@Yahoo.com

“AN INITIAL CRITIQUE/ASSESSMENT OF INFORMATION EXCHANGED AT A “CONSULTATION”

BETWEEN THE MINISTER OF HUMAN SERVICES AND SOCIAL SECURITY AND GUYANA’S RELIGIOUS
COMMUNITY ON JANUARY 23, 2008 IN THE BOARDROOM OF THE ETHNIC RELATIONS COMMISSION”

How committed is the Ministry of Human Services to real reform?

3. The attention of the Minister was drawn to the fact that the influence of pornography had its
place in the existing situation as described in the Consultation Paper, but the Minister
reminded the audience that the Ministry’s consultation document did not consider
prostitution, pornography or homosexuality in coming to its conclusions (see s. 14 and s. 15
on pages 2-3 of the Consultation Paper) … deeming them as “complex”.

An immediate suggestion from the church could be that not to address prostitution,
pornography and homosexuality in considering similarly “unnatural activity” that constitutes
“rape” reflects an incomplete, even reckless, approach by the Ministry that may illustrate
similar deficiencies in the Ministry’s assumptions and prescriptions. These issues cannot be
ignored as if they did not exist. Good law is founded on good data, not convenience.

How committed is the Ministry of Human Services to children’s welfare in Guyana?

3. Finally, the following comment in the first paragraph of page 2 of 16 of the law review by Dr.
Steve Baldwin, "Child Molestation and the Homosexual Movement" cited at (2) above raises
fertile opportunity for research scientists and policy-makers in the Caribbean:

"Unfortunately, the truth is stranger than fiction. Research confirms that

homosexuals molest children at a rate vastly higher than heterosexuals, and the
mainstream homosexual culture commonly promotes sex with children.
Homosexual leaders repeatedly argue for the freedom to engage in consensual sex
with children, and blind surveys reveal a shockingly high number of homosexuals
admit to sexual contact with minors. Indeed, the homosexual community is
driving the worldwide campaign to lower the age of consent"

“Child Molestation and the Homosexual Movement”, 14 REGENT U. L. REV. 267 (2002),
http://www.regent.edu/news/lawreview/articles/14_2Baldwin.doc

SUBMITTED BY
ROGER WILLIAMS
AS A PERSONAL OPINION
January 24, 2008

AND COPIED TO:

GUYANA’S MINISTRY OF HUMAN SERVICES AND SOCIAL SECURITY
THE CARIBBEAN COUNCIL OF CHURCHES,
THE EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE CARIBBEAN
THE GUYANA COUNCIL OF CHURCHES,
 THE GUYANA EVANGELICAL FELLOWSHIP,
THE GEORGETOWN MINISTERS’ FELLOWSHIP,
THE PENTECOSTAL ASSEMBLIES OF THE WEST INDIES,
AN INITIAL CRITIQUE OF GUYANA’S PROPOSED “STAMP IT OUT” LEGISLATION.
How should the church respond initially? … and thereafter in detail?

Context:

Guyana’s Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Priya Manickchand hosted a two-hour
“consultation” with members of the religious community on 1/23/08 in the boardroom of the Ethnic
Relations Commission. At issue was the “Stamp It Out” initiative to curb sexual violence against women
and children.

Enough material was exchanged during the course of that event to show that the church should take a
strong interest in the development of comprehensive draft legislation … as distinct from blindly endorsing
the strong punitive bias in the Ministry’s “Stamp It Out” proposals.

This critique summarizes key issues (and their implications) that arose during the consultation, especially
those not reported by the local press, and advises on responses.

Kaieteur News (KN) carried a carefully edited and government-biased version of the consultation on
1/24/08, and readers should read same to fill in the gaps. This KN-report reflects the dangerous instinct to
conformity that is driving the “Stamp It Out” initiative thus far. Sadly, one can easily detect a complicit
media this early in the programme.

Please note that the same article advises that the Ministry hopes to table a Draft Bill in March 2008.

The church should not wait for that date to offer (1) an immediate response to the consultation based on
the suggestions below, and (2) a detailed response to the full document itself by February 28, 2008.

Summary of consultation:

Minister Priya Manickchand delivered a 30-minute presentation accompanied with a slideshow that
outlined the basics of that “Stamp It Out” (SIO) initiative. Detailed accounts of the proposed reforms are
found in the 48-page “Stamp It Out” Consultation Paper available at www.gina.gov.gy. A summary of
same reforms is at pages 43-44 of the document.

Key reforms to be addressed were slated as:

1. Abolition of the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) (see pg 25ff in the SIO document)
- PI takes years sometimes, thereafter High Court Trial, result enormous delay.
- Reform will be based on “paper committals” where the bundle of statements given by the
prosecution to the defence seven days before the hearing is enough for the magistrate to
have a “hearing” and immediately refer the matter to the High Court.
2. Establishment of a Sexual Offences Court
3. Offering an Integrated Services Unit at the Georgetown Hospital for treatment.
4. “Modernizing” sexual offences (see pg. 11 of the SIO document) by making it “gender neutral”.
- moving the classic definition of “rape” as a forcible entry of the vagina by a penis or other
object to include penetration of the anus by any other body part (eg penis) or object.
- Increase maximum penalty to life imprisonment, with 7 years as a minimum.
2
 - Addressing “consent” and “coercive circumstances” issues that instead place the burden on
the behaviour of the accused rather than that of the victim.

Issues arising out of the consultation:

1. The SIO document (acquired for the first time by many persons at the consultation’s date 1/23/08)
itself notes (page 3) that the “deadline” for responses was 31st December 2007. If pastors had
attended any consultation before, the church has to immediately devise strategies for reporting and
sharing information in future.

One immediate response by the church should be that the Minister engages the religious
community with more immediacy in future on this developing initiative.

Another immediate response should be that the very volume of the issues addressed in the
document demands that the church have at least one month after the consultation to research the
Ministry’s findings and premises as outlined in the Consultation Paper, and thereafter offer its full
and informed view.

2. The attention of the Minister was drawn to the fact that “modernizing” the law relative to rape of
males, though well-intentioned, had obvious and immediate implications when considered with (3)
below.

Guyana’s criminal laws currently prohibit consensual or non-consensual sexual activity between
males whether adults or minors. This includes offences in relation to sexual activity between
males, such as s. 351 (gross indecency between males), s. 352 (attempted buggery), s. 353
(buggery) of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:01, and offences in relation to
prostitution, such as s. 356 of Chapter 8:01 and s. 165 of Chapter 8:02 (keeping a common bawdy
house) and s. 166 of 8:02 (loitering for the purposes of prostitution).

Adopting (or hijacking) a part of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act Chapters 8:01 which
EXPRSSLY PROHIBITS sexual activity between males and offering to use it to deal with a
“missing” element under legislation regarding “non-consensual” intercourse in a “special rape
court” raises two potential hazards:

- It acts to weaken and possibly demolish the solid walls proscribing (expressly forbidding)
homosexual sodomy provided by Ch. 8:01, and replaces it with the alternative prospect of
a high-powered team of defence lawyers forcing victims (the Ketley Street boys?) to admit
to “consensual” sexual activity for which they were probably paid.

- To the extent that part of the Minister’s well-intentioned but misguided plan now
introduces arguments of the crime’s (sodomized rape) “consensual” or “non-consensual”
nature, then a door is being opened to argue in future cases about the perpetuator’s or
victim’s “sexual orientation” … a right not protected by Guyana’s Laws.

Good medical, legal and societal reasons exist for the solid protection provided by Guyana’s
criminal law in this regard, and they have not been eroded by the passage of time, as provided by
the solid arguments provided by the law reviews below:

“Child Molestation and the Homosexual Movement”, by Steve Baldwin. 14

REGENT U. L. REV. 267 (2002),
3
 http://www.regent.edu/news/lawreview/articles/14_2Baldwin.doc

“Why NARTH? The American Psychiatric Association’s Destructive and Blind

Pursuit of Political Correctness”; by Ben Kaufman. 14 REGENT U. L. REV. 423
(2002).
http://www.regent.edu/news/lawreview/articles/14_2kaufman.doc

“Gay Orthodoxy and Academic Heresy”. By Ty Clevenger. 14 REGENT U. L. REV.

241 (2002); http://www.regent.edu/news/lawreview/articles/14_2Clevenger.doc

… and the following statements by the Surgeon General of the United States of America and other
medical authorities, since the Minister claims to be similarly concerned with the current epidemic
of HIV/AIDS that is ravaging Guyana:

"The Surgeon General has said, "Condoms provide some protection, but anal
intercourse is simply too dangerous a practice." ("Condoms and sexually
transmitted diseases, especially AIDS": Article 7, FDA document 90-4239)

“The physiology of the rectum makes it clear that sodomy is unnatural. The
inward expansion of the rectum during anal intercourse frequently tears the
rectal lining, resulting in spasms, colitis, cramps, and a variety of other
physical responses. Furthermore, sperm can readily penetrate the rectal wall
(the vagina cannot be so readily penetrated) and do massive immunological
damage, leaving the body vulnerable to a bewildering variety of opportunistic
infections.” (David Ostrow et al, eds., “Sexually Transmitted Diseases in
Homosexual Men”, New York, Plenum Medical Book Co., 1982 … in the article
“Hemorrhoids, Anal Fissure and Condylomata Acuminata”; G. Manligit et al.,
“Chronic Immune Stimulation by Sperm Alloantigens,” in the Journal of the
American Medical Association 251, 1984 … 237-241; See also J. Richards et al.,
“Rectal Insemination Modifies Immune Responses in Rabbits,” Science 224 …
1984 … 390-392; G. Shearer and A. Rabson, “Semen and Aids,” Nature 308 …
1984:230 … as quoted by Roger Magnuson in “Are Gay Rights Right?”).

An immediate suggestion from the church could be that a better approach would be to leave issues
of sexual activity between males within the confines of Ch. 8:01 of the Criminal Law (Offences)
Act and instead ADD “rape” to the list of offences therein proscribed … perhaps as an aggravated
addendum to sections 352 (attempted buggery) and 353 (buggery).

Another immediate suggestion by the church should be that penalties under Ch. 8:01 should be
increased to reflect those proposed at Annex 2, pg. 45-48, of the Consultation Paper.

3. The attention of the Minister was drawn to the fact that the influence of pornography had its place
in the existing situation as described in the Consultation Paper, but the Minister reminded the
audience that the Ministry’s consultation document did not consider prostitution, pornography or
homosexuality in coming to its conclusions (see s. 14 and s. 15 on pages 2-3 of the Consultation
Paper) … deeming them as “complex”.

An immediate suggestion from the church could be that not to address prostitution, pornography
and homosexuality in considering the similarly “unnatural activity” that constitutes “rape” reflects
an incomplete, possibly reckless, approach by the Ministry that could illustrate similar deficiencies
4
 in the Ministry’s assumptions …. and prescriptions. These issues could not be ignored as if they
did not exist. Good law is founded on good data, not convenience.

Another immediate suggestion by the church in that regard could be that not to consider the
uncensored sale of thousands of “blue” DVD’s on Guyana’s streets (10 for US$5), or not to
consider an absolute ban on “homosexual-film festivals” of the sort peddled by a business place
(Sidewalk Café) that currently sits less than 50 feet away from a prominent secondary school
(Christ Church), was tantamount to irresponsibility on the part of the Minister and the Ministry of
Human Services. The Ketley Street Primary incident reminds us that school-children are very
vulnerable.

The Ministry of Human Services, and the Ministry of Education, had been written before on the
issue, and had not responded.

Finally, the following comment in the first paragraph of page 2 of 16 of the law review by Dr.
Steve Baldwin, "Child Molestation and the Homosexual Movement" cited at (2) above raises
fertile opportunity for research scientists and policy-makers in the Caribbean:

"Unfortunately, the truth is stranger than fiction. Research confirms that

homosexuals molest children at a rate vastly higher than heterosexuals, and
the mainstream homosexual culture commonly promotes sex with children.
Homosexual leaders repeatedly argue for the freedom to engage in consensual
sex with children, and blind surveys reveal a shockingly high number of
homosexuals admit to sexual contact with minors. Indeed, the homosexual
community is driving the worldwide campaign to lower the age of consent"

The Minister, paradoxically (she is a lawyer by profession) has inadvertently signalled that she
may well choose to ignore the submissions in the law reviews cited above. This would be unwise.

4. The attention of the Minister was drawn to the fact that a period of time was needed for the
religious community to study the Consultation Paper and come up with their studied and
deliberate response. Ms. Texiera argued that the religious community should come up with a clear
moral statement, since the attitude of the various religious texts was clear on the issue. She cited
examples.

An immediate suggestion by the church could be that they had no problem with the immediate and
outright “moral statement” that Ms. Texiera advocated, but that the attendant issues of “mandatory
sentencing” and “life imprisonment” outside of a deliberate study and a holistic approach was
fraught with danger. It amounted to “locking up the prisoner and throwing away the key”. This
was dubious law at best, and decidedly bad law in as porous a legal system as Guyana’s.

5. The attention of the Minister was drawn to the fact that the cover page of her slide show
presentation was styled as “A Proposal for the increase in convictions… ”. If this was the sole
aim of the project, then there was a possibility that overarching issues relating to available
institutional infrastructure and justice would be overlooked.

An immediate suggestion by the church could be that a case could easily be made that there was
room for more education as much as for draconian sentencing (in an environment of “draconian”
rather than “just” sentencing, there will be much room for vindictiveness and abuse).

5
6. The attention of the Minister was brought to the fact that backward and forward linkages to
mandatory treatment for both the perpetuator and victim leaded to considerations of proper
staffing of the Ministry with qualified psychiatric staff, distinct from the “social workers” that
were currently charged with evaluating only the victim’s state of mind. While the Minister pleaded
limited resources, the point was made that the Ministry’s work should begin with hiring competent
staff, including qualified psychiatrists and Christian counsellors.

An immediate suggestion by the church could be that while the Ministry’s current outlook seemed
to be that the best response was increasing the prison population dramatically and throwing way
the keys, the mandate of the church inevitably meant a holistic approach that meant early detection
of predisposition at home and schools, preventative counselling throughout the life-cycle of
profiled perpetrators in workplaces and places of worship, as well as the buttress of punitive
penalty. This point was entirely consistent with suggestions made by both Ms. Texiera and the
Minister, and fell more logically within the Ministry’s portfolio than the intense punitive agenda
apparently denoted in the document (the extent of that punitive agenda would become clear after a
detailed study was done of the Consultation Paper).

7. The attention of the Minister was drawn to the fact that again arising out of the stated effort to
emulate countries which have, under reform, raised their conviction rates from 4% to 60%, then
the overall situation in Guyana might infer that an entire system was at fault and needed fixing.

An immediate response by the church could be to urge the answer to some important questions:
Did the government have plans, for example, to build the additional prisons anticipated with a
60% or greater conviction rate. No answer was forthcoming from the Minister at the date of the
one-off “consultation”. The Georgetown prison currently holds 1200 prisoners in a facility made
for about 500, and is understaffed.

8. Noticeable in this consultation, and other news reports, are obvious attempts to discredit the Police
Force as an important intermediary in investigation, prosecution and deterrence … illustrated in
the Minister’s condescending remarks about “crappy” Police Force members (see newspaper
reports), when the same comments could easily be levelled at the administration of the judiciary,
the unfilled vacancies in the court system, the proliferation of acting appointments therein, and a
notoriously lax court system, and the Minister’s own intransigence and indifference to the
proliferation of video-pornography on the streets of Georgetown.

The GPF’s (countervailing?) views on the environmental influence on their organizational

efficiency posed by the availability of pornography, joblessness, poverty, poor salaries, an
oppressive tax regime and general economic deprivation are never aired at these sessions, and a
climate of distrust is perhaps unwittingly being engendered against the police.

An immediate suggestion by the church could be a caution to the Minister that this continuous
derogation of the GPF in the course of this effort at reform is short-sighted and counterproductive,
and that the positive reinforcement of good investigative work by an underpaid, undermanned,
under trained Police Force must be seen as much of a priority as getting High court convictions. A
collaborative rather than confrontational approach should be encouraged.

9. The attention of the Minister was drawn to the fact that good law is based on good data. While the
Minister in presentation used only one set of data from “a 2005 study”, what was not clear was the
author, terms of reference and reliability of the study. There also appear to be numerous references
to “studies show” and “research shows” in the Consultation Paper without citing specific sources.
6
 An immediate suggestion by the church could be that meaningful consultation with as diverse a
community as Guyana’s religious bodies needs more than 90 minutes.

10. The attention of the Minister was drawn to the need to establish a Men’s Affair Bureau to address
the issues that men affect men in Guyana’s society … this especially given the male stereotyping
typical of these proposed reforms . The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry advised that the aim
was not to engender a climate of “them against us” and that the aim was a gender-neutral solution.
The paradox here is that while nothing of the perpetrators profiled seemed gender neutral, the
Ministry’s solution was seeking to be.

An immediate suggestion by the church could be that the Ministry consider with more diligence
the issue of a Men’s Affair Bureau however conceptualized, and request persons to submit
memoranda on how it should be constituted.

11. The attention of the Minister was drawn by a member of the religious community that he was a
head of a home, and, having been exposed to Religious Education (RE), felt a severe disconnect
with the debauchery and horror of the numerous tales of incest and molestation. Yet another point
was made by a presenter that the horror situation described by the Minister in her presentation
could in fact infer that Moral Education (ME) in schools had failed. For the Ministry to then offer
that “many perpetrators know about religious education” was disingenuous, since if the increase of
assaults could be traced to a time after the introduction of Moral Education, then there was a valid
case for doing away with it. Another contributor suggested “Values Education”, but this is
synonymous with ME.

An immediate suggestion by the church could be that the reintroduction of RE rather than ME in
schools would be an immediate part of proposed reforms, since, as Ms. Texiera pointedly asserted,
each of the three great religions’ texts denounce rape with some intensity. We should note that
Christianity, in particular, has a clear system of values that begins with “Thou shalt not”, and this
is revered as a code of conduct by millions.

Another immediate suggestion could be that the Ministry of Education provide data to show if
there was a correlation between the time of the removal of religious education in schools and the
increase in incidents of molestation, etc. Ideally, this study should be done by an independent
body. Gross methodological and factual faults in previous studies immediately rule out the ERC.

12. The attention of the Minister was drawn to the fact that members of the religious community
would support other measures in addition to increased jail time:

- Mandatory intervention via counselling and psychiatric help by the state in initial instances
of abuse as reported by the Police.
- Strong parole system rather than enactment of “no possibility of parole” sentencing.
- Mandatory counselling for all parties.
- Severity of punishment for convictions related to rape.
- Re-examination of policy on bail
- Use of limited and extended restraining orders relative to homes and schools.
- Use of adult corporal punishment (whippings) as valid deterrents.

Roger Williams
Georgetown, Guyana
January 24, 2008
7