Section 3 of the Jamaican Constitution - Charter of Rights to replace it

JAMAICA (CONSTITUTION) ORDER IN COUNCIL, 1962
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Amended by: Acts 15 of 1971 36 of 1975 1 of 1977 16 of 1986 15 of 1990 6 of 1993 4 of 1994
Fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual.
Protection of right to life.
Protection from arbitrary arrest or detention.
Protection of freedom of movement.
Protection from inhuman treatment.
Compulsory acquisition of property.
Protection for privacy of home and other property.
Provisions to secure protection of law.
Protection of freedom of conscience.
Protection of freedom Of expression.
Protection of freedom of assembly and association.
Secretary to the Cabinet.
Supreme Court and Judges.
Pending Appeals.

FULL SECTION 3 part

The relevant sections as show above will be replaced by the 20 year old lagging draft document in the houses of Parliament which restarted yesterday October 13, 2009 with the Prime Minister on his feet saying his administration not supporting gay marriage.


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The gay marriage debate I feel is an invented one by the christian right who want to bolster their position on morality. Gay marriage has never been directed advocated for in Jamaica as basic rights and recognition are still not present, how can we ask for marriage rights if basic rights are not even present for LGBT people or the population on a whole.

Some of the fears the Christian right had were outlined in an article in the Gleaner entitled -

'Unholy union' - Charter could sanction gay marriage in Jamaica - Christian lawyers

Yvonne Coke (right), founder and director of Hands Across Jamaica for Righteousness, in conversation with an animated Shirley Richards, attorney-at-law and president of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship - Feb 14th 2006 during a press conference to discuss the Charter of Rights Bill at Family Life Ministries in St. Andrew. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

which included:

"The concerned church leaders and the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship are insisting that their concerns be heard, and have outlined a plan of action:

Prayer by the Christian community about the issue.

Christians are encouraged to sit in the public gallery at Gordon House during the Charter of Rights committee meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Christians and pastors are being encouraged to write to their various Members of Parliament expressing their concerns over the proposed constitutional amendments.

"The rights pertaining to freedom of conscience, which is currently granted under Section 21 of the current Constitution, have not been fully repeated in the charter," noted Shirley Richards, president of Lawyers' Christian Fellowship.

She added that Sub-section Four of the Constitution currently allows a religious body to provide religious instruction to, for example, students in the course of any education, even though that body may be recipient of financial assistance from Government funds.

"We have searched the Charter of Rights desperately to find the explicit inclusion of this provision but we have not found it," said Mrs Richards. "It, therefore, means that if this Charter of Rights is passed, we can say goodbye to devotions in schools, to Christmas plays and carol services and to any type of religious instructions to students."

The religious groups are also concerned about the inclusion of a privacy clause in Section 13, Subsection 3 of the Charter of Rights, with the words 'respect for private and family life, privacy of the home'.

"Our concern," said Richards, "is that these words, as innocuously sounding as they are, can be interpreted to allow for adult consensual homosexual conduct in private," said Richards. She added that once homosexual acts are decriminalised, there would be no basis to bar to gay marriage. Mrs. Richards added that the concept of privacy also deals with abortion rights.

"If the government wants to decriminalise either homosexuality or abortion then it must do so squarely. Don't tell us that this will never happen under your watch and then allow for a few choice words in the charter which you know are capable of having this meaning," said Mrs. Richards.

Charter of Rights fears

Pastors could be exposed to personal risk and liability for preaching the Gospel.

The preaching of the Gospel could be described as hate speech.

Homosexuality could be made legal without the buggery law being repealed by Parliament.

Judges could be forced to make homosexual marriage legal.

The new Charter of Rights will allow the judiciary to take activists' positions and create policy without public accountability.

Could create conditions under which the preaching of the Gospel could be severely curtailed."

Here is an additional piece of commentary I put together with the PMs presentation and the excerpts from a radio show that carried the story.


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Please read the constitution carefully and here are some reports etc:
Report of the Joint Select Committee 2006 - Charter of Rights
Submissions from NAC - Charter or Rights
Charter of Rights Bill 2008 Tabled version

For the players just scroll to the relevant post with the green bar on their right hand double click the topic to commence the entry as hosted on GLBTQJA's NING Membership page.

Peace and tolerance

H