Guyana

Article 22. The right and the duty to work

1. Every citizen has the right to be rewarded according to the nature, quality and quantity of his or her work, to equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, and to just conditions of work.

2. Every citizen who is able to work has a duty to work.

Article 40. Fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual

1. Every person in Guyana is entitled to the basic right to a happy, creative and productive life, free from hunger, ignorance and want. That right includes the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual.

2. The provisions of Title 1 of Part 2 shall have effect for the purpose of affording protection to the aforesaid fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual subject to such limitations of that protection as are contained in those provisions, being limitations designed to ensure that the enjoyment of the said rights and freedoms by any individual does not prejudice the rights and freedoms of others or the public interest.

Article 139. Protection of right to personal liberty

1. No person shall be deprived of his or her personal liberty save as may be authorised by law in any of the following cases, that is to say-

Article 140. Protection from slavery and forced labour

1. No person shall be held in slavery or servitude.

2. No person shall be required to perform forced labour.

3. For the purposes of this article, the expression “forced labour” does not include-

a. any labour required in consequence of the sentence or order of a court;

b. any labour required of any person while he or she is lawfully detained that, though not required in consequence of the sentence or order of a court, is reasonably necessary in the interests of hygiene or for the maintenance of the place at which he or she is detained;

c. any labour required of a member of a disciplined force in pursuance of his or her duties as such or, in the case of a person who has conscientious objections to service as a member of a naval, military or air force, any labour that that person is required by law to perform in place of such service; or

d. any labour required during any period when Guyana is at war or in the event of any hurricane, earthquake, flood, fire or other like calamity that threatens the life or well-being of the community to the extent that the requiring of such labour is reasonably justifiable, in the circumstances of any situation arising or existing during that period or as a result of that calamity, for the purpose of dealing with that situation.

Article 148. Protection of freedom of movement

1. No person shall be deprived of his or her freedom of movement, that is to say, the right to move freely throughout Guyana, the right to reside in any part of Guyana, the right to enter Guyana, the right to leave Guyana and immunity from expulsion from Guyana.

Article 148. Protection of freedom of movement

1. No person shall be deprived of his or her freedom of movement, that is to say, the right to move freely throughout Guyana, the right to reside in any part of Guyana, the right to enter Guyana, the right to leave Guyana and immunity from expulsion from Guyana.

Article 154a. Human rights of the individual

1. Subject to paragraphs (3) and (6), every person, as contemplated by the respective international treaties set out in the Fourth Schedule to which Guyana has acceded is entitled to the human rights enshrined in the said international treaties, and such rights shall be respected and upheld by the executive, legislature, judiciary and all organs and agencies of Government and, where applicable to them, by all natural and legal persons and shall be enforceable in the manner hereinafter prescribed.
2. The rights referred to in paragraph (1) do not include any fundamental right under this Constitution.
3. The State shall, having regard to the socio-cultural level of development of the society, take reasonable legislative and other measures within its available resources to achieve the progressive realisation of the rights provided for in paragraph (1).
4. If any person alleges that any of the rights referred to in paragraph (1), has been, is being or is about to be contravened in relation to him or her, then, without prejudice to any other action with respect to the same matter which is lawfully available, that person may apply to the Human Rights Commission in such manner as the Commission may prescribe, for redress.
5. Nothing contained in this article shall be construed so as to abrogate any human right, not enumerated herein, which a person had at the time of the commencement of this Article.

6. The State may divest itself or otherwise limit the extent of its obligation under any of the treaties listed in the Fourth Schedule, provided that two-thirds of the elected members of the National Assembly have voted in favour of such divestment or limitation.

Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana 1980 (PDF)

Article 72. Procuring defilement of female by threat or fraud or administration of drug

Everyone who –

(a) by any threat or intimidation, procures or attempts to procure any female to have any unlawful carnal connection, either within or without Guyana; or

(b) by any false pretence, false representation, or other fraudulent means, procures any female, not being a common prostitute or of known immoral character, to have any unlawful carnal connection either within or without Guyana; or

(c) applies, administers, or causes to be administered to or taken by, any female, any drug, matter, or thing with intent to stupefy or overpower, so as thereby to engage any person to have unlawful carnal connection with her,

Shall be guilt of a misdemeanour ad liable to imprisonment for ten years.

Article 73. Procuration

Everone who –

(a) procures or attempts to procure any female under twenty-one years of age to have any unlawful carnal connection, either within or without Guyana, with any other person; or

(b) procures or attempts to procure any female ot become, either within or without Guyana, a common prostitute; or

(c) procures or attempts to procure any female to leave Guyana with intent that she may become an inmate of a brothel elsewhere;

(d) procures or attempts to procure any female to leave her usual place of abode in Guyana with intent that she may, for the purposes of prostitution, become an inmate of a brothel either within or without Guyana,

Shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and liable to imprisonment for ten years.

Article 85. Forcible abduction of female for marriage or carnal knowledge

Everyone who, by force, takes away or detains any female against her will, with intent to marry or carnally know her, or to cause her to be married or carnally known by any other person, shall be guilty of felony and liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.

Criminal Law (Offences) Act (PDF)

Article 2. Interpretation

In this Act –

(c) “coercion” includes violent as well as some forms of non-violent or psychological coercion, including –

(i) threats of serious harm to or physical restraint against any person;

(ii) any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that failure to perform an act would result in serious harm to or physical restrain against any persons; or

(iii) the abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process;

(d) “debt bondage” means the status or condition of a debtor arising from a pledge by the debtor of his personal services or those of a person under his control as a security for debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined;

(e) “exploitation” means-

(i) keeping a person in a state of slavery;

(ii) subjecting a person to practices similar to slavery;

(iii) compelling or causing a person to provide forced labour or services;

(iv) keeping a person in a state of servitude, including sexual servitude;

(v) exploitation of prostitution of another;

(vi) engaging in any form of commercial sexual exploitation, including but not limited to pimping, pandering, procuring, profiting from prostitution, maintaining a brothel, child pornography;

(vii) illicit removal of human organs;

(f) “force labour” means labour or services obtained or maintained through force, threat of force, or other means of coercion or physical restraint;

(h) “practices similar to slavery” includes, in general, debt bondage, serfdom, forced or servile marriages and delivery of children for exploitation;

(i) “servitude” means a condition of dependency in which the labour or services of a person are provided or obtained by threats of serious harm to that person or another person, or through any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if the person did not perform such labour or services, that person or another person would suffer serious harm;

(j) “slavery” means the status or condition of a person over whom any or all the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised;

(k) “trafficking in persons” means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person by means of the threat or use of force or other means of coercion, or by abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or by the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purposes of exploitation.

Article 3. Trafficking in persons

(1) Whoever engages in or conspires to engage in, or attempts to engage in, or assist another person to engage in or organises or directs other persons to engage in “trafficking in persons” shall –

(i) on summary conviction

(a) be sentenced to not less than three years nor more than five years imprisonment;

(b) be subject to forfeiture of property under section 7; and

(c) be ordered to pay full restitution to the trafficked person or persons under section 6.

(ii) on conviction on indictment –

(a) be sentenced to not less than five years or to life imprisonment;

(b) be subject to forfeiture of property under section 7; and

(c) be ordered to pay full restitution to the trafficked person or persons under section 6.

(2) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of any child, or the giving of payments or benefits to obtain the consent of a person having control of a child, for the purpose of exploitation shall constitute trafficking in persons irrespective of whether any of the means described in section 2(k) have been established.

Article 5. Transporting a person for the purpose of exploiting such person’s prostitution

(1) Whoever knowingly transports or conspires to transport, or attempts to transport or assists another person engaged in transporting any person in Guyana or across an international border for the purpose of exploiting that person’s prostitution commits an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to be punished in accordance with subsection (2).

(2) Persons convicted of the crime of transporting a person for the purpose of exploiting that person’s prostitution shall be liable to a fine of not less than five hundred thousand dollars and not more than one million dollars and shall be imprisoned for not more than three years, but the presence of any one of the following aggravating factors resulting from acts of the defendant can permit a longer sentence up to a maximum of five years together with forfeiture of the conveyance ,used for transporting the victim –

(a) transporting two or more persons at the same time;

(b) permanent or life-threatening bodily injury to a person transported;

(c) transportation of one or more children; or

(d) transporting as part of the activity of an organised criminal group.

Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act 2005 (PDF)