HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE
Sixty-seventh session
SUMMARY RECORD OF THE FIRST PART (PUBLIC)* OF THE 1806th MEETING
Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva,
on Tuesday, 2 November 1999, at 3 p.m.
Chairperson: Mr. BHAGWATI
CONTENTS
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 40 OF THE COVENANT (continued)
Draft list of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the second
periodic report of the Republic of Guyana
The meeting was called to order at 3.20 p.m.
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 40 OF THE COVENANT (agenda item 6) (continued)
Draft list of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the second periodic report of the Republic of Guyana (CCPR/C/99/Add.2; CCPR/C/68/Q/GUY/4)
1.The CHAIRPERSON invited the members of the Committee to resume consideration of the draft (CCPR/C/68/Q/GUY/4).
Paragraph 19
2.Mr. KLEIN, supported by Mr. POCAR and Ms. EVATT, proposed that the first two sentences of paragraph 19 should be deleted and the third retained.
3.The first two sentences were deleted.
4.Paragraph 19, as amended, was adopted.
Paragraph 20
5.Ms. EVATT proposed that paragraph 20 should be deleted. It appeared that a law had been adopted resolving the questions raised in paragraph 20, but it was difficult to obtain up‑to‑date information.
6.Mr. AMOR was of the view that paragraph 20 dealt with fundamental questions and should be retained.
7.Mr. YALDEN said that the first sentence of paragraph 20 was unclear; surely there was no such thing as divorce in the context of common law marriages.
8.Ms. EVATT said that the original text contained an error and should read: “Please provide information on the legislation adopted in 1990 on protecting and regulating the property rights of women with respect to divorce and common law marriage.”
9.Paragraph 20, as amended, was adopted.
Paragraph 21
10.Paragraph 21 was adopted.
Paragraph 22
11.Ms. EVATT said that the reason for the paragraph was that the law adopted on the subject had given rise to problems of implementation which the authorities were trying to resolve.
12.Paragraph 22 was adopted.
Paragraph 23
13.Ms. EVATT said that the paragraph dealt with an extremely important issue in that members of Parliament in Guyana were not elected but designated by the heads of the political parties after the election of the President. Members of Parliament were not answerable to the voters for their acts.
14.The CHAIRPERSON noted that such practices ran counter to the provisions of article 25 of the Covenant.
15.Paragraph 23 was adopted.
Paragraph 24
16.Ms. EVATT said that the paragraph had already been amended, with the agreement of the Committee members.
17.Paragraph 24 was adopted.
Paragraph 25
18.Paragraph 25 was adopted.
Paragraph 26
19.Mr. KLEIN suggested that the question raised in the paragraph concerned article 26 rather than article 1 or article 27 of the Covenant.
20.Ms. EVATT proposed that questions relating to articles 26 and 27, on discrimination and the rights of minorities respectively, should be placed under a single heading.
21.Ms. Evatt's proposal was adopted.
22.Paragraph 26 was adopted.
Paragraph 27
23.Paragraph 27 was adopted.
24.The draft list of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the second periodic report of the Republic of Guyana as a whole (CCPR/C/68/Q/GUY/4) was adopted.
The public part of the meeting rose at 3.30 p.m.