I would like to thank all those who put their confidence in me by electing me to sit on the Constitution Reform Commission. It has been a great educating and learning experience for me and I trust that I have served you all in a way that you would have wished.

Jean La Rose

1. The Constitution Reform Commission

The Constitution Reform Commission came into being on under the Constitution Reform Commission Act 1999 on January 22, 1999 when President Janet Jagan swore in 20 persons as members of the Constitution Reform Commission.

The overarching task of this Commission was to:

The Commission was to submit a report of its activities, findings and recommendations, to the Special Select Committee of the National Assembly by July 17. After that Parliament would then further consider the report and this body would ultimately decide on what was to be included in the new constitution.

2. TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION

In conducting the review of the Constitution, the Commission was to take into account the following (Constitution Reform Commission Act 1999): -

1. the full protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms of all Guyanese under the law and

the Caricom Charter of Civil Society;

2. the rights of the indigenous people of Guyana;
3. the rights of children;
4. eliminating discrimination in all its forms;
5. improving race relations and promoting ethnic security and equal opportunity;
6. measureS to ensure that the views of minorities in the decision-making process and in the conduct of Government are given due consideration;
7. implementing reforms relating to elections and the Elections Commission taking into consideration its composition, the method of electing its chairman and members and its jurisdiction over national registration and the electoral process;
8. measures to secure and protect economic, social and cultural rights of all Guyanese;
9. measures to maintain and strengthen the independence of the judiciary;
10. measures aimed at safeguarding public funds and at maintaining and enhancing integrity in public life under the law and by other proper means;
11. the functioning of the National Assembly and any measure which can enhance its capacity and effectiveness as a deliberative body;
12. the functioning of the local government system and measure to improve its capacity and effectiveness;
13. the representations which have been made to Special Select Committee on Constitutional Reform established in accordance with the Resolution of the National Assembly passed on December 1, 1994.

2. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CRC SECRETARIAT

In order to effectively carry out its mandate as stipulated by the Constitution Reform Commission Act, the CRC had to establish, staff and equip its secretariat. It also had to seek funding to carry on its work. These activities took some time to get off the ground for a number of reasons that I will not specify here and therefore the Commission did not immediately began work on gathering recommendations, the aspect that was to be the main part of the report for the National Assembly.

 

3. COMPOSITION OF THE CONSTITUTION REFORM COMMISSION

Jean La Rose, Programme Administrator of the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) was elected to sit on the Constitution Reform Commission (CRC) as the representative of Amerindians. This was done during a meeting in Georgetown of captains’ regional representatives from nine of the ten regions and the three Amerindian organisations, the Amerindian Peoples Association, the Guyanese Organisation of Indigenous Peoples, and the Amerindian Action Movement of Guyana.

The Constitution Reform Act stipulated that the Commission comprise 20 persons and that this include:

1. five members nominated by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic
2. three members nominated by the People’s National Congress
3. one member nominated by the United Force
4. one member nominated by the Alliance for Guyana
5. a farmers’ representative
6. a private sector’s representative
7. an indigenous people’s representative
8. a women’s organisations’ representative
9. a youth organisations’ representative
10. a Guyana Bar Association’s representative
11. a Hindu religious organisations’ representative
12. a Muslim religious organisations’ representative
13. a Christian religious organisations’ representative
14. a Labour Movement’s representative.

As a result, the following persons were sworn by President Janet Jagan as members of the

Constitution Reform Commission on January 22, 1999:

1. People’s Progressive Party/Civic – Hon. Reepu Daman Persaud, Harinarain Ralph Ramkarran, Bernard Dos Santos, Hon. Gail Texeira (resigned and replaced by Dr. Frank Anthony), Moses Nagamootoo (resigned and replaced by Philomena Shury Sahoye)
2. People’s National Congress – Derek Bernard, Vincent Alexander, Haslyn Parris
3. The United Force – Aubrey Collins
4. The Alliance for Guyana – Dr. Rupert Roopnarine
5. The farmers’ representative – Harrichand Mahadeo
6. The private sector’s representative – Ramdial Bhookmohan
7. The indigenous people’s representative – Jean La Rose
8. The women’s organisations’ representative – Anande Trotman
9. The youth organisations’ representative – Faizal Jafarally
10. The Guyana Bar Association’s representative – Miles Fitzpatrick
11. The Hindu religious organisations’ representative – Vidyanand Persaud
12. The Muslim religious organisations’ representative – Shahabuddin McDoom
13. The Christian religious organisations’ representative – Rev. Keith Haley
14. The Labour Movement representative – Randolph Kirton.

Before it began its work, the Commission was also to name a Chairman and Vice-Chairman from among its members and the persons so elected were: Chairman - Ralph Ramkarran, Vice-Chairperson – Jean La Rose. At the same time, the Commission also named Haslyn Parris as Secretary of the Commission.

For the Commission to arrive at its recommendations for the reform of the Guyana Constitution, the CRC was to consult "within the widest possible geographical area, with as many groups, communities, organisations and institutions as possible". As a result Amerindian communities fell among the geographical groups that should be consulted, a position made even stronger by the fact that the Commission had to include in its discussion, "the rights of the indigenous people of Guyana" since this was one of the categories spelt out by the Act.

In order to achieve the above, the CRC held a number of public hearings throughout the country. These hearings were however carried out under two main constraints – time and finance. The Commission had a very short time in which to implement and complete its work, and it was operating with limited finance. For the hinterland communities, the Commission could not go to all the villages but attempted to visit centrally located communities with the idea that representatives from the other nearby communities would come to the central locations to present their recommendations to the Commission. The Commission however did provide limited financial assistance to some communities so that representatives could get to the place of the hearing. In this way, teams of three Commissioners travelled to pre-identified communities to receive recommendations for input into the constitution. Hinterland communities visited included:

Region 1 – Santa Rosa, Mabaruma, Matthews Ridge and Port Kaituma,

Region 2 – Kabakaburi

Region 7 – Kurupung, Chi Chi, Phillipai, Kamarang, Paruima and Kaikan

Region 8 – Mahdia and Paramakatoi

Region 9 – Karasabai, Aishalton, Annai and Lethem.

I was present at all of the interior meetings except for those in the Rupununi, Region 9, on which occasion I had to deal with a family emergency in Georgetown. While I recommended visits to more Amerindian communities, this could not be done because of the constraints outlined above. It is safe to say however that for those communities visited, the Amerindian communities showed the best turn out of persons either to make recommendations or to support those presenting their recommendations to the team of Commissioners. Most of the presentations were clear and precise, and spelt out exactly what the person or persons wanted to see in the reformed constitution. Many persons presented their recommendations from prepared documents.

Amerindian issues that were addressed include:

• the call for a separate chapter in the constitution dealing with Amerindian rights;
• the enshrining of Amerindian land and resource rights in the constitution (including sub-surface rights) based upon immemorial occupation and use;
• a transitional article on a land claims settlement procedure;
• local government - the right to autonomy and self government within the framework of the Guyanese state ;
• measures to ensure that the views of minorities in the decision making process and in the conduct of government be given due consideration with respect to Amerindians;
• cultural integrity, e.g. the prevention of assimilation or integration into other cultures;
• right to bi-lingual and bi-cultural education;
• special guarantees against discrimination;
• intellectual property rights;
• the right to decide on development objectives, priorities and strategies, among others;
• the establishment of an Amerindian Lands Commission
• the establishment of an Indigenous Peoples Commission
• the establishment of a Toushaos Council
• the President (powers, term of office, birth status, etc.)
• the independence of the judiciary
• private ownership of the media
• the applicability of ratified international human rights treaties.

2. WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS

The CRC also received written submissions from Guyanese in general for reform of the constitution. While most of the recommendations from Amerindians were presented orally, a consolidated statement presented to the Commission by the Toushaos regional representatives from nine of the ten regions and three national Amerindian organisations provided most of the main recommendations that were also in the oral presentations. This included some of the points mentioned above. This, along with the other issues that were not captured in the statement but which were received by the CRC formed the main arguments for dealing with Amerindian rights when the Commission began its deliberations on the various recommendations that were received.

3. OTHER SUBMISSIONS

Apart from considering submissions that were made during the 1999 Commission, the CRC was also mandated to take into account recommendations that were received by the Special Select Committee of the 6^th Parliament during 1997. This Select Committee had also visited interior communities to receive recommendations during the period when the Parliament had begun considering the reform of the constitution. This Committee was however not allowed to complete its report as national elections was called before the work was completed.

4. EXPERT INPUT ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

The CRC engaged the services of 7 local and 7 international experts to discuss various aspects of constitutional reform. Among the seven international experts was an expert on Indigenous Peoples rights, Mr. Augusto Willemsen Diaz, Guatemalan by birth. Mr. Diaz has vast experience working in the international arena especially with the United Nations, and he was able to highlight some of the issues pertaining to Indigenous Peoples rights to the Commission. The presence of this expert came about as a result of lobbying on my part for inclusion of such an expert.

5. DISCUSSIONS ON ORAL AND WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS

The holding of public hearings came to an end towards the end of April but the Commission continued to receive written submissions some time after this. Towards the beginning of May, the Commission began discussions on the various submissions. The first set of meetings to discuss six main areas were held in plenary: fundamental rights, local government, Parliament, the President and the Executive, the Judicature, and the Electoral system.

After these rounds of discussions, the Commission then broke into five sub-committees that looked at the following issues:

1. Citizenship
   Finance
   Economy
   Fundamental Rights & Freedoms
   Culture
   
   
2. Electoral system
   National security
   Mechanics of constitutional process
   General principles to inform constitutional reform
   Education
   
   
3. Race
   Religion
   Local government
   Parliament
   Public administration
   
   
4. Indigenous rights
   Judicature
   Minority rights
   Democracy
   Executive
   Land & environment
   
   
5. Women’s rights
   Children’s rights
   Commissions
   President
   Constitutional offices
   Constitution as a document

These sub-committees were given the task of looking in detail at the various recommendations that could be included in the constitution then presenting them in more coherent forms to the full Commission for further discussion and voting. As such, the Sub-committees deliberated on these recommendations for a period of one month after which the recommendations were brought to the plenary, discussed and voted on.

The sub-committee’s recommendations on the rights of Indigenous Peoples were informed by recommendations made by the public to the CRC in both the written and oral forms. The text of the recommendations is included at the end of this document as the Report of the Committee on Amerindian Rights. The main points are:

1. Reference in the preamble on the rights of the Amerindian peoples

1. Reference under fundamental rights recognising and affirming aboriginal rights for the chapter on Amerindian rights
2. Chapter on Amerindian Rights to include: Amerindian land rights; transitional section on the establishment of a land claim settlement procedure; the right to autonomy and self government; Amerindian participation rights; cultural integrity; education; special guarantees against discrimination
3. Institutional mechanisms to include: a Council of Toushaos; Commission on Amerindian Lands

These recommendations were put forward by and defended by myself with an explanation on the rationale for the recommendations. They were then discussed by the full Commission on two separate occasions under two different headings:

1. Fundamental rights
2. Commissions.

When the issue of Amerindian rights came up for discussion under fundamental rights, the support for the various recommendations were not very good. Arguments were put forward against:

1. a special chapter dealing with the rights Amerindians
2. specific reference to Amerindians in the constitution
3. specific reference to bi-lingual education
4. specific reference to Amerindian land rights, especially subsurface rights.

Most of the arguments centered around such ideas that the constitution should not give more rights to one segment of the society as against the others; that if Amerindians are given "special" rights, then other ethnic groups in the society must be given "special" rights; that Amerindians can benefit equally from general provisions in the constitution as the rest of the Guyanese people without making special reference to them; that land belongs to all Guyanese and that Amerindians must not forget that not only Amerindiars live in the interior; that while there could be an Amerindian Commission dealing with Amerindian land, among other things, that this Commission should not be a constitutional commission.

At the end of this first round of discussion, it was agreed by consensus (all members of the Commission who were present) that there should be:

1. a reference to the Indigenous People in the Preamble of the Constitution
2. that the Rights of Indigenous People would be placed under fundamental rights for the protection of Indigenous culture and way of life which should include language
3. that self determination should be recommended on the basis of the concept of devolution of power to institutions within the local government system.

After the conclusion of the first round of discussions on Amerindian rights, I requested that there be further discussions on this issue when the CRC came to discuss the subject of Commissions. This was because I was not satisfied with the idea that a commission to deal with Amerindian issues, especially land, should not be a constitutional commission. This was agreed and so much later when the CRC was close to concluding its discussions on all other issues, the question of a commission dealing with Amerindian issues was once again discussed.

Before these discussions began however, I attempted to educate fellow Commissioners and their organisations on the subject of Amerindian rights and then sought their support for a Commission to deal with Amerindian issues. As such, when discussions began for a second time, there was more an understanding of the issues and so more widespread support for the proposal of a constitutional commission to deal with Amerindian issues, though not necessarily a Commission on Amerindian Lands. In the end it was agreed by consensus that the CRC would recommend that there should be an Indigenous Peoples Commission rather that Commission on Amerindian Lands in the constitution. The final recommendations are included below.

2. FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDED IN THE REPORT TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

1. That there should be reference to the Indigenous Peoples in the Preamble of the Constitution.
2. That the rights of the Indigenous Peoples should be placed under Fundamental Rights and provision made in the Fundamental Rights section for the protection of Indigenous culture and way of life, which should include language.
3. That self-determination should be recommended on the basis of the concept of devolution of power to institutions within the local government system.
4. That an Indigenous Peoples Commission be established to look into and make recommendations for specific issues including: land rights; improvements in legislation affecting Amerindians; the Amerindian Act; the scope and authority of the Council of Toushaos; empowerment with regards to local government and the Amerindian village council system; economic and education policy; cultural protection and preservation.

Voting: Consensus

While all the recommendations for the reform of the constitution made by Amerindians and Amerindian communities were not accepted by the CRC as recommendations to be included in the new constitution, a great part of these rights can be realised from what has been recommended so far. Proposals were made to the Commission in great detail to the extent of highlighting specific rights and even the language that could be used in drafting these recommendations. What have been accepted turn out to be more general and broad based recommendations but which are very important for the specific rights that were not mentioned.

Take for the example the Indigenous Peoples Commission which, if carried through as it is presently proposed, can cater for various rights such as land, education and culture. It can also deal with the improvement of legislation such as the Amerindian Act and others that have relevance to Amerindians. The provision under fundamental rights for rights dealing with Amerindian culture and way of life can also be interpreted to include land as related to Amerindian culture and way of life.

It is important for us to understand what the provisions are under these rights. It is also important that we be cautious as to how much we let others who have interests different to ours know how we can benefit from the provision so far, as general as they appear to be. It was not easy to get the recommendations as they are at the moment to pass in the Commission and I had to find ways of getting people on my side to support the arguments. It would be great if what we have can be expanded on but not good if we lose from what we have so far achieved.

There were some submissions that were received by the CRC which were recommendations that could not be included in the constitution. These included things such as the salaries of village captains, stipulations on the clothes of a captain as a rural constable, the building of hospitals, schools and other such services for specific communities. There are already general provisions in the constitution for the right to education and the right to health services and laws are derived from the constitution to deal with these. There are others for which there are laws but which are not derived from the constitution. There are yet others that are only customary practices which do not necessarily require constitutional protection or statutory regulation.

14. GENERAL COMMENTS ON THE ENTIRE PROCESS

1. Timeframe to complete the report to the National Assembly

The time frame within which the CRC had to begin and complete its report to the National Assembly was a very short one - six months to be exact. Not all of this time was spent in receiving and discussing recommendations for the reformed constitution since many other administrative aspects had to be taken into consideration. As such, there was not enough time to visit more interior communities nor to seek out further opinions and recommendations for the reformed constitution. There was not enough time to carry out more programmes to educate the citizenry, especially the Amerindian communities, on the present 1980 Constitution or on constitutional issues in general.

This however must not detract from the number and level of representation made by Amerindians and the Amerindian communities which in general turned out to be of high quality and which showed a lot of thought and preparation.

 

2. Atmosphere of the CRC

In general, the work atmosphere of the CRC was a good one. At the beginning of the process, there were some tensions mainly as a result of political differences between the various parties represented in the Commission. Some of these tensions impacted on the civil society representatives, and as the representative of Amerindians on the Commission, I particularly felt this impact as there were political representatives who also claimed that they represented Amerindians as part of their constituency. To them this meant that they had all rights to tell me how I should think and act. My general response was that I had a mandate from the Amerindians, and that I have been cautioned to use this wisely and to do this to the best of my ability.

As the work of the Commission developed and as the various Commissioners began to know each other better the work atmosphere grew better and in fact there was a lot of cooperation among Commissioners in trying to meet the deadline for the report to the National Assembly. For the major part of the life of the CRC, the work was conducted in this atmosphere under the chairmanship of Commissioner Ralph Ramkarran. .

 

3. Discussions in the Commission

Discussions in the CRC were frank and well expounded even though there were many disagreements and even though tempers were raised on a few occasions. While many, especially the politicians seemed well versed in the various political aspects of the work of constitutional reform, the strong points of the civil society grouping was in fundamental rights and freedoms. The issue of Amerindian/indigenous rights appeared to be new to most of the Commissioners except perhaps one or two. Many asked the question, "why should Amerindians be seeking "special" protection in the law when we are all Guyanese." They argued that Amerindians should not be given what they termed as "privileges" more than the other sectors of the Guyanese population.

I argued that what Amerindians were seeking were not special privileges or rights but equal protection under the law. I argued that we have a culture and way of life that is distinct from the rest of the Guyanese population, that this culture is related to land and language among other things, and that these need to be recognised in the constitution or else we could face assimilation and destruction of these very values that are important to us. I also argued that because of the great disadvantages we have faced over the decades, we need constitutional measures to be in place to bring Amerindians in line with the rest of the Guyanese population. I mentioned that what the Amerindians of Guyana are seeking is not unique around the world but that in fact, some governments had already moved to include similar kinds of provisions on behalf of their indigenous population in their constitutions.

4. Support for the Amerindian recommendations in the CRC

Initially there was little support for the recommendations that Amerindians had suggested. The representatives who spoke in support of the recommendations when discussions took place under Fundamental Rights were: the Guyan Bar Association representative, Miles Fitzpatrick; the Women’s representative, Anande Trotman; the Private Sector representative, Ramdial Bhookmohan; the Christian religious organisation representative, Rev. Keith Haley; and the Working Peoples Alliance representative, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine.

During the second round of discussions on the issue under the subject Commissions, the response to the recommendations was more favourable. These were not accepted entirely as they were presented and a number of additions, deletions and modifications were recommended by those who spoke. Those who spoke in support of the recommendations on this occasion were: the Bar Association representative, Miles Fitzpatrick; the Private Sector representative, Ramdial Bhookmohan; the Christian religious organisation representative, Rev. Keith Haley; the Working Peoples Alliance representative, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine; the Peoples National Congress representatives, Derek Bernard, Haslyn Parris, Vincent Alexander; and the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic representative, Bernard Dos Santos.

The final result was that there was consensus agreement to the various recommendations that were finally agreed upon.

5. Support by the Amerindian Peoples Association

The Amerindian Peoples Association also provided great and valuable support during my work with the CRC. The organisation provided material for the printing of documents and the actual printing of the documents itself. It served as a distribution and communication link between my self and the communities as well as allowed for international connections and communication which were necessary to provide a view as to what has been happening on the international scene. It provided support documents used by my self to develop on recommendations and arguments and which were also distributed to the commission as educational materials. In would like to especially to thank Ivor Marslow, Marie Adrian and Kid James for their assistance.

One member of staff , Ivor Marslow, also directly assisted the Commission in making logistical arrangements for interior travel when the Commission had not yet fully established its secretariat but during which time the Commission had planned the interior visits.

The APA has pledged to continue to work with communities in support of the reform process.

6. Legal support

The Forest Peoples Programme also lent some legal support in the organising of the recommendations and putting them in a coherent form.

7. Support documents used and developed for debates and the recommendations

Some of the documents and materials I used to support me in the recommendations put forward to the Commission were:

1. The International Labour Office (ILO) Convention 169
2. The United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
3. The Proposed OAS Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
4. The CERD General Recommendations XXIII Concerning Indigenous Peoples, August, 1997
5. UN Economic and Social Council paper by Mrs. Erica-Irene Daes entitled Indigenous People and

their relationship to land

6. Briefing Paper on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in International Law by Fergus MacKay
7. A Plain English Guide to the Amerindian Act by the Amerindian Peoples Association
8. Indigenous Rights in the Constitutions of Countries in the Americas
9. A Comparison Between Amerindian Rights in the Constitution of Guyana and Other Countries, published in the Stabroek News

1. Hours of work

My work with the CRC was often long and demanding. Initially the Commission began holding its meetings roughly between 4.30 – 7.30 during three days per the week. However as the deadline for the report began drawing nearer, the hours of work and the number of workdays extended. Towards the final two weeks before the completion of the report the Commission was putting some 6 – 8 hours daily, sometimes extending even beyond these times.

As the Vice-Chairperson of the Commission, I also had to attend more meetings than some other Commissioners as I also sat on the Editorial Committee of the CRC.

As the Programme Administrator of the Amerindian Peoples Association, I still maintained most of my responsibilities in the office of the APA. It thus meant that I was literally working on two jobs during the period of my stint as a Commissioner on the CRC, generally having some 10 –12 hour workdays.

2. Recommendations for continuation of the process of constitutional reform

The report of the Constitution Reform Commission was submitted to the Chairman of the Special Select Committee on Constitutional Reform of the National Assembly on July 17, 1999. As such, the work of the Commission in garnering recommendations for the reform of the 1980 Constitution of Guyana has come to an end. The process of constitutional reform has however not come to and end.

The report in now in the hands of the National Assembly and this body will decide on how to proceed with the report that has been put forward to them. This Assembly has to also work with a deadline in terms of the actual rewriting of the new constitution. They however also have the power to include recommendations from communities and individuals in their discussions in Parliament even those that have been recommended by the Commission.

It then is very necessary for all Amerindians to keep abreast with the further process of constitutional reform as they are taking place in Parliament. It also becomes very necessary for individuals and communities to continue to press the parties that they voted into Parliament to ensure that the recommendations put forward by the CRC is included in the new constitution and to further find ways of including those recommendations that were not included in the CRC Report.

The process of educating parliamentarians and keeping close to them is very important. It is also important to know what are the recommendations that were put forward by the CRC and what are the recommendations put forward by myself to the Commission. I have included in this report a copy of the recommendations of the CRC under the fundamental rights recommendations. I have also included a copy of the recommendations that was put forward to the CRC. I have not attempted to distribute copies of the entire report as this is a very long and thick document. However, persons who are desirous of seeing the full recommendations can request this and I will see if this request can be fulfilled. In addition, persons can visit the office of the APA to look at the text of the full report.