GHRA urges Western diplomats to demand public accountability in Adriana Younge’s case

Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 May 2025, 22:01 by Writer

The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) on Tuesday said it was insufficient for Western diplomats here to appeal for calm during recent unrest triggered by the death of Adriana Younge, but urged that they do more to demand public accountability by the police force and other institutions.

While the American, British, Canadian and European Union diplomatic missions have also reaffirmed their commitment to democracy and peace, the association said their calls fell short of addressing the core issue – public trust – in national institutions such as the law enforcement agency, State-owned media, and government spokespersons.

“In response to this reality the GHRA urges diplomatic partners to give equal priority to ensuring the technical recommendations of any international investigative support are made directly available to the Guyanese public,” the GHRA said.

The association said that since the public cannot be expected to accept conclusions delivered solely by an institution that has so far relied on evasion, misinformation, and selective enforcement, the information should be shared with Parliament, civil society, the diplomatic community, the media and the affected family.

The GHRA recommended that the results of such an intervention be communicated to the family fully and directly by the experts involved.

Such an approach ensures both the necessary technical expertise and the political will to truth, justice, and public trust are upheld, the GHRA also said.

Except for an interview by the Head of the Police Force’s Criminal Investigations Department, Deputy Commissioner Wendell Blanhum has opted to rely on media statements one of which appeared to have contributed to the mayhem on April 24 when the body of Adriana Younge was seen in a pool at the Double Day Hotel at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo.

Months before that incident, the press had on more than one occasion told Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo that the police force was less than responsive.

He, like President Ali, had seen the need for the police force to hold news conferences and improve its communications but in reality nothing has changed.

For its part, the GHRA said the government’s stated strategy of limiting its response to “known facts” offers little reassurance.

The GHRA also said that approach “has proven circular” because the missing facts are within the purview of the police and government “that claim to be restrained by them.”

“From evasive conduct surrounding events at the hotel, misleading interpretations of CCTV footage, curbing public and press access to autopsy results, the government’s handling of the case has been marked by obstruction, rather than transparency,” the GHRA added.

According to that organisation, unrest was not only driven by Younge’s tragic death but by the lack of trust in the police and the government which have been replaced by social media “narratives with fluctuating levels of credibility.”

The GHRA also reasoned that the situation was being fueled by deepening disbelief in statements and actions issued by the police and government officials.

The GHRA called for the current case not to repeat the failures of the 2020 initiative to resolve the West Coast Berbice murders of the Henry boys and young Haresh Singh.

The association recalled that in that case, cooperation between the police force, the GHRA, the families of the murdered boys and their lawyer saw the Director of the highly respected Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) brought to Guyana.

However, the GHRA reminded that non-cooperation of the Ministry of Home Affairs prevented the CID from meeting or benefitting from this visit by the same institution that years earlier had identified Cuba revolutionary Che Guevara’s remains in Bolivia.

The ‘commitment to democracy’ dimension of that initiative of keeping the public informed, took the form of a public lecture by the EAAF Director in the Catholic Cathedral attended also by the Heads of all the Latin American diplomatic missions based in Guyana.