T&T DEFENDS SOES

TRINIDAD and Tobago defended its repeated use of states of emergency yesterday at a United Nations human rights review where delegates also raised concerns about violent crime, allegations of excessive police force and human trafficking.

Concerns were raised yesterday as part of T&T’s fourth Universal Periodic Review before a working group of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The working group examined the Government’s national report, prepared by the International Law and Human Rights Unit of the Office of the Attorney General, alongside a compilation of UN information and a summary of stakeholder submissions. Ahead of the hearing, stakeholders had raised concerns about expanded search and seizure powers, detentions and the suspension of bail rights during states of emergency.