Waging Peace:  Guyana

Go to: Encouraging Sustainable Development and International Cooperation | Monitoring Elections | Consolidating Democracy | Strengthening Civil Society | Reinforcing Rule of Law 

For much of the past decade, Guyana was a stable country that enjoyed high economic growth and declining poverty. This progress, though, was built upon weak democratic foundations, a fragile economic base, and underlying ethnic tensions between the Afro- and Indo-Guyanese communities. Unfortunately, these tensions have grown rather than abated. As a result, private investment has dried up, and emigration has accelerated. An interparty dialogue process between the major political parties broke down in March 2002 and again in 2003.

Concerned about these worrying trends, The Carter Center instituted a cross-programmatic approach to "waging peace" in the country, bringing its diverse skills in conflict resolution, democracy-building, and national development to bear on Guyana's challenges. In January 2002, the Center's field office began to monitor the political situation and explore how political differences could be resolved and how a broader national dialogue on deepening democracy and promoting national development could be launched. In June 2002, the Center sponsored a brainstorming workshop on conflict resolution with representatives of civil society and political parties. The workshop helped stimulate various civic and political initiatives for peace and further political dialogue. President Carter issued an open letter to Guyanese civic and political leaders to encourage them to work together for peace and reconciliation in July 2002.

President Carter visited Guyana in July 2004 to assess the potential for deeper Carter Center involvement in promoting peacebuilding. He met with the president, leader of the opposition, diplomats, and a wide cross section of society and issued a statement on how Guyana's leaders could work together for peace and sound governance.

Encouraging Sustainable Development and International Cooperation

After the 1992 elections – the first free and fair elections in more than 28 years – the government of Guyana invited the Global Development Initiative (1993-2006)  to assist in formulating a comprehensive vision and development strategy to gain the support of the international donor community. The process began in December 1992 with President Cheddi Jagan's participation in the initiative's first Development Cooperation Forum. The conference explored how to enhance international trade, aid, agriculture, and other policies for development for newly emerging democracies like Guyana.

Following the forum, the government of Guyana and donors invited the initiative to facilitate preparation for a major donor conference specifically for Guyana under the auspices of the Caribbean Group for Cooperation in Economic Development, chaired by the World Bank. The conference brought together international financial institutions, bilateral donors, and government representatives. With the Center's assistance, the government presented a policy framework that led to an additional $320 million in aid from bilateral donors for the next three years. However, donors stated that a more comprehensive strategy would be needed for Guyana to attract further aid and investment. Read full text >

Monitoring Elections

In March 2001, The Carter Center sent a delegation of 44 from 10 countries to observe the presidential elections. President Carter, Rosalynn Carter, and former Barbados Prime Minister Sir Lloyd Erskine Sandiford led the delegation. The group concluded the election met international standards, noting that voting was peaceful and orderly with high turnout. Polling officials were found to be generally professional, well-organized, and impartial.

While noting the importance of these elections, the Center stressed that such elections alone are not enough to solve either Guyana's problems of governance or the wounds of an ethnically divided society. The Guyanese also face the challenges of developing constitutional arrangements and electoral institutions that will foster political and ethnic reconciliation. Read full text >

Election Reports

View Carter Center election reports for Guyana >

Consolidating Democracy

In August 1999, the government of Guyana and the U. S. Agency for International Development entered into a five-year agreement for a democracy and governance program in Guyana. The Carter Center worked with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the International Foundation for Election Systems to improve the rule of law and legal regulation-making, increase capacity to resolve disputes in a timely manner, sustain institutional capacity to conduct free and fair elections, increase the levels of influence exerted by civil society, and strengthen local governance.

Strengthening Civil Society

The Center's Democracy Program helped Guyanese nongovernmental organizations to increase their advocacy, consensus-building, and analytical capacities to improve the status of women, youth, and Amerindians. The program also helped them to increase public debate and media attention on issues affecting these target groups.

During fall 2001, the Center selected seven Guyanese civil society groups to receive training in strategic planning, results-based management, advocacy, project design, financial management, and proposal writing.

The Center also worked with local Amerindian organizations to explore how civil society groups could remain informed about and participate in planned revisions of Guyana's Amerindian Act.

Reinforcing Rule of Law

The Center's Democracy Program has worked closely on judicial system reform in Guyana with the High Court, the chief justice, the Guyana Bar Association, and the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers.

The Center has supported efforts to develop a code of conduct for the judiciary and create a national judicial conference series. The Center also supported establishment of a Criminal Law Review Committee in February 2002 with the mandate to examine existing laws, practices, and procedures for the criminal justice system and to make recommendations for its improvement and possible legal revisions. In addition, the Center has supported the revision of the civil rules of court. Other Center activities include the support of a magistrates conference and a judicial education series.