Dear Editor,
During the 2026 Budget debate in the National Assembly last week, Minister Deodat Indar stated that the report into the December 2023 Guyana Defence Force helicopter crash would not be released to the public, on the basis that the aircraft was engaged in a military operation. That assertion raises a discrete legal question: whether, as a matter of international aviation law or Guyana’s domestic law, the Minister’s position is legally justified.
The analysis therefore turns on the legal consequences of that characterisation. It requires consideration of the international framework governing state aircraft, particularly the Chicago Convention, and of the domestic legal regime governing access to official information, including the Constitution of Guyana and the Access to Information Act 2011. The central issue is whether either body of law supports the Minister’s conclusion that the report may not be disclosed.
Internationally, the Chicago Convention distinguishes between civilian aircraft and aircraft engaged in military service. Aircraft in military service are excluded from the Convention’s mandatory civil aviation accident-reporting regime. That exclusion, however, goes to obligation only. It does not prohibit disclosure, nor does it regulate access to information under domestic law.
The constitutional position is governed by Article 146 of the Constitution of Guyana, which protects freedom of expression and includes the freedom to receive information without interference. While that right may be limited in the interests of defence or public safety, any restriction must be reasonably required and capable of justification.
The Access to Information Act 2011 gives effect to that constitutional right. It recognises national security and military operations as grounds for exemption, but it does so on a qualified basis. The Act contemplates redaction and partial disclosure where necessary, not the blanket suppression of an entire report.
Five servicemen lost their lives in the December 2023 crash. Their families continue to seek closure. The helicopter bore civil aviation registration and was not engaged in combat. These factors engage a strong public interest in disclosure of the non-operational findings of the investigation.
A previous Senior Minister publicly committed to the release of the report. If the present position is that disclosure is now unlawful, that proposition must be established in law. Ministerial succession does not alter the legal obligations of the State.
The question is not whether sensitive military information may be protected, but whether the law permits the suppression of an entire investigation report; neither the Chicago Convention nor the Access to Information Act appears to support the Minister’s conclusion.
In my considered opinion, the law allows publication of the report, subject only to such limited and strictly necessary redaction as is required to protect legitimate national security interests. The public interest overwhelmingly favours disclosure.