Rights abuse soars since Tivoli incursion

Carolyn Gomes,  guest columnist

At this year's Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) session, Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) reported on Jamaica's human-rights situation since the May 2010 Tivoli Gardens incursion to extradite Christopher 'Dudus' Coke to the United States.

Our 2011 report found that respect for human rights in Jamaica has declined since last year's state of emergency in several critical and disturbing ways.

Here are some of our findings:

There continues to be a lack of accountability for human-rights violations by the security forces. It's been reported that 73 people were killed during the incursion, although other estimates put the number at around 100. Yet, almost than a year later, investigations into the circumstances of those deaths, the conduct of the security forces during the incursion, and even a proper accounting for the number of persons killed and injured, have not been completed.

Extrajudicial killings and unlawful behaviour by the security forces continue to increase. JFJ found that 320 people were killed in 2010 by police, an increase of more than 20 per cent from 2009. If you couple this figure with the 73 killed in Tivoli and the additional two persons reported killed by the Jamaica Defence Force, it means that one in five homicides in Jamaica in 2010 was committed by the security forces. We also told the IACHR of the increased number of reports we've received of police officers purposely disguising their identities when carrying out operations, which makes them difficult to identify or hold accountable for wrongful actions.

JFJ reported on the 41 per cent increase in 2010 of complaints to the organisation of police holding individuals for prolonged periods without charging them. We told the IACHR that the security forces appeared to use the state of emergency to fingerprint and photograph young men from Kingston's inner-city communities, without cause and without providing them with legal advice. This wholesale detention and processing of the men in various communities included boys as young as 14.

We also explained that more than a year after the prime minister reported to Parliament on plans to remove children from police lock-ups across the island, more than 100 Jamaican children continue to be housed alongside adults under often inhumane conditions. This practice is in contravention of local and international law.

JFJ also reported our concerns about the crime bills passed so hurriedly during the state of emergency, which contain provisions that unnecessarily contravene the rights of Jamaicans. These provisions have the potential to make the fight against crime more difficult, by allowing rights to be abused on the say-so of a police officer, and by alienating large sections of communities from law enforcement.

There are a few bright spots. The establishment of the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) is an important step in the right direction. This organisation investigates alleged human-rights abuses and corrupt police officers. But INDECOM is not without its problems. It faces serious challenges to make a difference, including differing views on how it's supposed to improve the police force. As regular readers of this newspaper know, there has also been a lot of interdepartmental squabbling about INDECOM's jurisdiction.

paradigm shift needed

In our view, successive governments since Independence have failed to meet their obligations to safeguard and promote the human rights of all Jamaicans. Human rights continue to be treated as an afterthought, an abstract social issue dismissed as inconvenient obstacles to fighting crime, or as luxuries we can't afford. But they are much more than that. Human rights are inalienable and should be afforded to all Jamaicans equally, and protected by the law.

We ignore Jamaica's human-rights standards at our peril. Every indivi-dual's rights are eroded each time our sons or nephews are arrested without cause and locked up for weeks at a time; or wantonly killed by members of the security forces without redress under the law; or held for 60 days without bail and/or thrown into a detention centre with hardened criminals. When this state of affairs is allowed to perpetuate itself, our reputation as a pariah nation grows. Every injustice delegitimises all our rights, erodes the rule of law and undermines the very foundations of our democracy.

It is time Jamaica improve its abysmal human-rights record and seriously implement the conditions it agreed to when it ratified the American Convention on Rights. Both political parties need to systematically ensure human rights and freedoms are afforded to all Jamaicans in keeping with current international standards. We all deserve a better Jamaica.

Dr Carolyn Gomes is the executive director of Jamaicans For Justice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.