A/HRC/15/60 Protection Agency offered a legislative and administrative framework to protect children from abuse. 576. Guyana supported recommendation 70.42 and referred to constitutional provisions that specified that a person could only be detained for a maximum of 72 hours before being charged, or three months in the case of an accused to be brought before the courts. Guyana also supported recommendation 70.43 on increasing the age of criminality, and volunteered to report the outcomes of the ongoing consultations in relation to the new draft juvenile justice bill. 577. Recommendations 70.44 and 70.45 had been noted and not accepted by Guyana. The reasons for not accepting the recommendations had been elaborated in the addendum to the Working Group report. Guyana supported the first part of recommendation 70.46, and had noted the second part. In this regard, the delegation reiterated Guyana’s commitment made before the Working Group to continue to investigate, on the basis of available information and witnesses, all those responsible for the wave of criminal violence in the period 2002–2008 to decide whether they were part of the violent criminal gangs or of phantom death squads. 578. With regard to recommendations 70.47 to 70.53 on decriminalizing consensual same-sex relations and discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, Guyana had attempted to include “sexual orientation” in the anti-discrimination clause in the revised Constitution, but the proposal was defeated in 2003. While Guyana did not discriminate against persons based on their sexual orientation, it did not deny that interpersonal prejudices, based on cultural and religious beliefs, existed. Guyana had noted these recommendations and voluntarily committed to hold consultations over the next two years and to reflect the outcome of this democratic process in its domestic laws. Recommendations 70.54 and 70.55 had also been noted. 579. Guyana reaffirmed its commitment to holding consultations with civil society, the four human rights commissions, various levels of Government and State agencies and the National Assembly on the follow-up to the universal periodic review process. It also reported its initiatives to strengthen the Government/non-governmental organization partnership to reduce and prevent domestic and sexual violence. 580. With regard to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, to which Guyana had already acceded, the delegation assured the Council that 14-year-olds had not been recruited into the Guyana Defence Force for more than 30 years. However, in order to comply with the Protocol, Guyana would remove the relevant clause in the Defence Act providing for the recruitment of 14-year-olds before the end of 2010. 581. The Low-Carbon Development Strategy and its second Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme (2008–2012) formed the basis of Guyana’s agenda for development. Guyana was proud of its socio-economic achievements and its budgetary commitment to poverty reduction, although it recognized that there was still much more to be overcome. Guyana remained committed to achieving equitable access to the delivery of goods and services, especially for its poor, vulnerable and “differently-abled” citizens, within available resources. 582. Guyana, a developing country and a newly emerging democracy facing many challenges, was proud of its constitutional and parliamentary reforms and its model of shared governance. However, these reforms and the model of shared governance had only been introduced seven years earlier. Guyana remained irrevocably committed to democracy and the protection of human rights, the rule of law and good governance for its people. GE.11-17043 169