In accordance with the wishes of the affected families, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) is facilitating the visit to Guyana of Dr Luis Fondebrider, the Director of the Argentine Team of Forensic Anthropology (EAAF) to Guyana.

Dr Luis Fondebrider

The purpose of the visit is to assess whether the EAAF may be able to support the efforts of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) in their investigations of the deaths of the three youths in West Coast Berbice.

The visit will take place from December 12-16th, 2020. The main components of the visit will be meeting the families, visiting the crime scene, meeting with investigators and police personnel as well as briefing appropriate Government and diplomatic representatives.

As a result of the visit, the EAAF will determine whether and to what degree they may be able to support the Guyana Police Force in its investigations. If that conclusion is positive, the modalities of how it may be implemented will be addressed.

During his visit, Dr Fondebrider will also hold a Zoom meeting with representatives of official and civic organizations engaged with the problem of violent deaths of women.
The EAAF has developed protocols for the investigation of femicide – the violent deaths of women by men. The purpose of that session will be to explore the possibility of capacity-building in this area in the future.

Dr Fondebrider will also give a public presentation on the work of the EAAF. That presentation will take place in the Catholic Cathedral on the corner of Brickdam and Camp Street on Tuesday, December 15 from 5.30 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. The Cathedral is an appropriate venue in terms of safely accommodating COVID-19 protocols.

Dr. Fondebrider was one of the speakers at the Conference on Truth and Justice, In Search of Reconciliation in Suriname held in Paramaribo in 1998 by the Justice & Peace Organization and the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights. At the time, he was a staff member of the EAAF.

The bodies of 16-year-old Isaiah Henry and his 19-year-old cousin, Joel Henry, were found aback Cotton Tree Village on September 6, 2020, severely mutilated.

Their deaths triggered protest actions in West Coast Berbice and other parts of the country. Haresh Singh, 17, was killed days after the Henry boys, as he made his way to a farm located in the same village.

The young man was a relative of one of the suspects in the Henry boys’ murder probe.

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