A/HRC/44/16 Introduction 1. The Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, established in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 5/1, held its thirty-fifth session from 20 to 31 January 2020. The review of Guyana was held at the 14th meeting, on 29 January 2020. The delegation of Guyana was headed by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, John Ronald Deep Ford. At its 17th meeting, held on 31 January 2020, the Working Group adopted the report on Guyana. 2. On 14 January 2020, the Human Rights Council selected the following group of rapporteurs (troika) to facilitate the review of Guyana: Australia, Chile and Pakistan. 3. In accordance with paragraph 15 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 and paragraph 5 of the annex to Council resolution 16/21, the following documents were issued for the review of Guyana: (a) A national report submitted/written presentation made in accordance with paragraph 15 (a) (A/HRC/WG.6/35/GUY/1); (b) A compilation prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in accordance with paragraph 15 (b) (A/HRC/WG.6/35/GUY/2); (c) A summary prepared by OHCHR in accordance with paragraph 15 (c) (A/HRC/WG.6/35/GUY/3). 4. A list of questions prepared in advance by Germany, Liechtenstein, Portugal, on behalf of the Group of Friends on national mechanisms for implementation, reporting and follow-up, Slovenia, the United States of America and Uruguay was transmitted to Guyana through the troika. These questions are available on the website of the universal periodic review. I. Summary of the proceedings of the review process A. Presentation by the State under review 5. The delegation of Guyana congratulated the Human Rights Council for having convened the thirty-fifth session of the Working Group. The Government considered the universal periodic review to be a useful process, which allowed Guyana to engage with other States and constructively assess progress in relation to the promotion and protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms of its people. The commitment of Guyana to the process had been tangibly demonstrated by the number of achievements recorded since its last review in 2015, despite the challenges related to the country’s geographic dispersion, multicultural population, and economic and environmental vulnerability. Those achievements included full implementation of 31 recommendations from the second review cycle; accession to five Hague Conventions (2019); and implementation of laws, policies and programmes on corruption, discrimination and gender-based violence. 6. The delegation outlined the coordinated and comprehensive efforts of Guyana to address development goals, including its human development goals, in particular its Green State Development Strategy: Vision 2040. The Strategy was the Government’s most comprehensive strategic action plan. It incorporated and was fully aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, hence implementation of the Strategy and achievement of its targets would increase the country’s capacity to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and meet other international obligations, including many of the accepted recommendations from the universal periodic review. 7. The delegation highlighted recent legislation and policies developed to address corporal punishment and corruption, namely, the Juvenile Justice Act (2018), which prohibited all forms of corporal punishment in institutional residences and juvenile 2