Dear Editor,
The Ministry of Legal Affairs published a Draft Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill 2024 on its website on May 2024 and invited public feedback. We reviewed the proposed amendments and submitted our comments to the Ministry. Two of our letters were published in SN in June 2024 on these amendments and related SOA issues.
We note that the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs announced on February 6, 2026, that 47 pending Bills would be on the agenda of the Ministry of Legal Affairs for 2026 including the Draft Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill 2024. This is good news and we take the opportunity to resubmit our recommendations below publicly to encourage broader discussion on sexual violence in Guyana and to promote meaningful citizen participation in preventing sexual offences and to remind not only the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs of these recommendations but all parliamentary parties.
A detailed matrix of our feedback is available at https://bit.ly/3xcxHZ3[1].
We have serious concerns regarding proposed amendment 41A, which grants the Director of Public Prosecutions the power to remit cases for summary trial in the Magistrate’s Courts. As currently drafted, this provision gives the DPP sweeping discretion without clearly identifying which sexual offences may be tried summarily. We recommend that amendment 41A be limited explicitly to minor sexual offences, as penalties in the Magistrate’s Courts are significantly lower than those imposed for indictable offences tried before a judge and jury in the High Court.
We welcome proposed amendment 43A, which allows for the admissibility of written statements that have already been entered into evidence. This provision would allow cases to proceed even when a complainant or witness is unable to attend court due to death, physical or mental incapacity, and absence from Guyana for valid reasons, inability to be located, or interference through threats of bodily harm or death.
We also support the amendment to section 56, which permits the use of video-recorded statements in sexual offence cases. This measure would be particularly beneficial for cases involving young children and would likely be welcomed by Child Advocacy Centres. However, we are deeply concerned about the security risks associated with storing and handling such recordings. At a minimum, the legislation should mandate secure storage systems, clear chain of custody procedures, strict access controls, and defined responsibility for storage and management. The amendment should also include strong penalties for breaches of confidentiality or unauthorized sharing of recordings.
In contrast, we strongly oppose proposed amendment 72A and recommend that it be removed entirely, with the original wording of section 72(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2010 retained. This amendment seeks to reintroduce the discredited concept of recent complaint, which has been abandoned in most jurisdictions worldwide. It fails to recognize that survivors often delay reporting sexual offences for valid reasons, including trauma, stigma, fear, and power imbalances. Reintroducing this concept undermines decades of advocacy by women’s groups and civil society and risks denying survivors access to justice. It also ignores the realities faced by survivors in Indigenous, hinterland, interior, and isolated rural communities, where reporting may be logistically impossible and where obstruction of prosecution is a real risk. The current Act already provides a balanced framework by allowing courts to consider all relevant circumstances without imposing an arbitrary time limit.
We welcome proposed amendment 86A, which introduces penalties for breach of the duty to report. However, the amendment lacks clarity on who qualifies as an officer of a state or non-state institution. We recommend that these categories be clearly defined, consistent with the Protection of the Children’s Act, and expanded where necessary to include teachers, head teachers, social workers, counsellors, coaches, religious leaders, childcare providers, healthcare professionals, lawyers, NGO personnel, and coroners.
We also welcome the introduction of Section IXA establishing a National Sex Offenders Database. However, we recommend further consultation on its design and implementation. Consideration should be given to establishing both a restricted database and a public sex offender registry, as exists in Trinidad and Tobago. Given past challenges with data collection and database management, adequate time, technical expertise, and clear procedures must be put in place. We are also concerned that prolonged appeals could delay the inclusion of convicted offenders in the database, potentially undermining its purpose.
We encourage the public to engage actively with the Government on these proposed amendments. We will also continue to raise concerns about the implementation of key provisions of the current Sexual Offences Act.
As there were no proposed changes to Part IX Prevention in the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) Amendment Bill 2024, we assume these will remain unchanged. As such we draw attention once again to Part IX that mandates the establishment of a National Task Force for the Prevention of Sexual Violence (NTFPSV), with responsibility for developing and implementing a national plan of action to prevent sexual violence. Although a new Task Force was appointed when the PPP/C Government assumed office in 2020, no national prevention plan has been publicly released. There is also no publicly available information on policies that would enable structured collaboration between the Government and non-governmental, faith-based, or community-based organizations involved in prevention efforts.
The Task Force has fifteen statutory duties, yet there is no transparency regarding how these responsibilities are being carried out or how prevention initiatives are monitored. This lack of public reporting undermines accountability and weakens national prevention efforts.
While the SOA requires representation from civil society, only one non-governmental organization was represented on the Task Force. This is inadequate given the number of organizations actively working to prevent sexual and gender-based violence. Broader inclusion of NGOs and community groups is necessary to reflect the diversity of experience and expertise in this field.
Of particular importance are the provisions in Part IX that require special attention to sexual violence in remote areas and the need to ensure uniform treatment of sexual offence cases nationwide. These concerns are especially relevant in Indigenous and hinterland communities, where support services for survivors are limited, access to police and medical care is often delayed, and language barriers complicate reporting and legal proceedings. As a result, survivors may withdraw from the justice process, decline to testify, or accept informal compensation in place of prosecution.
The SOA further requires the systematic collection of detailed data on sexual offences, including reports, arrests, prosecutions, convictions, victim demographics, geographic distribution, medical treatment, and case outcomes. This requirement is not being fulfilled, as no comprehensive, publicly accessible data is available. Without such data, effective prevention strategies cannot be developed or evaluated.
The inclusion of prevention provisions in the SOA was clearly intended to make them enforceable. Guyana therefore has an obligation not only to collect data, but to publish it, in line with international standards such as CEDAW General Recommendation 35 and the recommendations of the Belém do Pará Convention. These frameworks stress the importance of disaggregated data and regular evaluation of measures to prevent and address violence against women and girls.
Finally, concern is raised about the limited consultations held prior to the release of proposed SOA amendments. Many organizations and advocates with extensive experience in implementing the Act were excluded, despite their valuable insights into persistent enforcement challenges.
As Parliament considers amendments to the Sexual Offences Act, there is an expectation that attention will be given not only to legislative changes, but also to the urgent need to strengthen implementation, transparency, and prevention mechanisms nationwide.