“Any register of sex offenders must be public” – Pres. Ali; sends proposed Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill to Select Committee

Following widespread outrage over the proposed legislation that seeks to establish a National Sex Offender Database that would be closed to public access, President Dr Irfaan Ali has intervened and ordered that the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill be sent to the parliamentary Select Committee for review.

This was announced on Wednesday by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who revealed that President Ali, as well as the Cabinet, is of the view that any register of sex offenders must be public.

“President Dr. Irfaan Ali has instructed that the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, presented in the National Assembly on June 5th, 2026, be sent to a Select Committee. He has also indicated that it is his view, and that of the Cabinet, that any register of sex offenders must be public. I strongly share this view,” VP Jagdeo stated.

This comes following days of public outrage over the proposed Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill 2026, which seeks to establish a National Sex Offender Database that would not be accessible to the public and includes stiff penalties for public officials who leak unauthorized information about convicted sex offenders.

Only Tuesday, the Human Services Ministry had defended the move to have a closed registry, explaining that it was the widespread public consultations that overwhelmingly advocated for the establishment of a closed model registry – something which the subject minister, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, who tabled the proposed legislation in the National Assembly last Friday, reiterated on Wednesday.

According to the Minister, “…the Bill was crafted based on the view of the public consultations, which overwhelmingly suggested a closed register.”

This proposed bill seeks to amend the 2010 Sexual Offences Act to, among other things, establish a database of Guyanese convicted of a sexual offence by a court within or outside of Guyana as of May 2010 and who have completed or are serving their sentence.

The bill states that the database would be established by the Commission of Police, which will have oversight of it and implement measures to secure the information against unauthorised access, collection, distribution, alteration, disclosure, and disposal.

The proposed law also contains provisions for a $100,000 fine and/or three years of imprisonment for anyone with access to the database who unlawfully disseminates the information.