The Senate has an opportunity to secure rights for all says JFLAG

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OPPORTUNITY RIPE FOR SENATE TO SECURE RIGHTS OF ALL

Kingston, Jamaica --- March 30, 2011

J-FLAG is calling on all Senators to ensure that they capitalize on the present opportunity in the Senate to decisively protect the human rights of all Jamaicans. This call is being made in light of the fact that the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms is presently before the Senate for debate. To let the opportunity pass would signal nothing but a sad day for freedom in our country.

J-FLAG insists that the bill as passed by the lower house does not provide sufficiently for the protection from discrimination of a number of vulnerable and marginalized populations. The government has said at the Universal Periodic Review that, ‘Jamaican law [does] not criminalise [sexual] orientation nor does it condone discrimination or violence … and was committed to ensuring that all citizens are protected from violence.’

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J-FLAG is therefore urging that the Senate provide a framework to reduce discrimination and violence against all persons including lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT); persons with disabilities and persons affected by particular health conditions such as HIV in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.

Passing the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms without clear recognition that disability, health status and sexual orientation are the grounds for non-discrimination in Section 13 (3)(i) would be to undermine the strides that have been made globally to guarantee human rights for all persons in a society. At a minimum, J-FLAG proposes that Section 13 (3)(i) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms simply reads ‘the right to freedom from discrimination”.

The Senate now has an opportunity to demonstrate its leadership and end the perpetuation of human rights abuses of vulnerable and marginalized populations. This is crucial because the Charter, as Hon. Edward Seaga (2010) advises, could ‘become an effective tool to foster the development of a dynamic society’.

J-FLAG wishes to remind everyone that this Charter should serve as the basis of human rights recognition for all in a society, where its basic laws are based on the concepts of inclusivity and dignity, and on an appreciation of contemporary science on human sexuality, not on prejudice, fear, habit and misinformation.

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http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/session9/JM/A_HRC_WG.6_9_L.12_Jamaica.pdf

press release ENDS

An accompanying nine paged document said among other things:

"Respect and tolerance fundamentally enable individuals, regardless of their status, to enjoy their human rights. Internationally, the recognition of the rights of individuals to nondiscrimination on the grounds of religion, health status, disability, gender, socio-economic status or sexual orientation, has allowed them to claim and enjoy these rights. The Human Development Report (UNDP, 2000) notes that the respect accorded to human dignity and freedoms is crucial to human social and economic development. Importantly, any and all constitutions, such as is currently under review in Jamaica, should therefore set out the core

principles around which laws are designed to protect all people, especially those who are most vulnerable and marginalised, from human rights violations.

There is no doubt that Jamaica has made considerable progress in translating its commitments and obligations, as duty-holders, under international human rights law into national legislation. The strengthening of the national infrastructure to promote human rights is to a large extent, demonstrated by the enactment of numerous pieces of legislation and adherence to various international treaties. This includes, inter alia, the:

(1) Enactment of the Child Care & Protection Act (CCPA) 2004;

(2) Steps taken to protect the rights of women, in particular to address discrimination

on the basis of gender and prevent violence;

(3) Inclusion of human rights training for security personnel; and

(4) Establishment of an Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) to investigate allegations of abuse of citizens by members of the Security Forces and other agents of the State.

These are indeed positive steps, and we commend the Jamaican Parliament for going further to make provisions to more comprehensively protect the human rights of Jamaicans in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms."

Some notes:

It's as if some of us saw it coming, The agitations now being made so late in the day towards the Charter of Rights is abysmal from JFLAG when my tenure at the organization and that of others who were insisting we have a presence during the Parliamentary sittings they fell on deaf ears, subsequently the some 13 blog posts on the then JFLAG blog now named GLBTQ Jamaica that I authored were hardly ever supported by the flag's management as to them blogs were not important at the time coupled with an elitist and corporatist attitude so why now do we believe another press release from the press room conveyor belt will cause politicians to take notice when it is also evident to me that the rush to push the Charter of Rights' passing in the upper house albeit without any recognition to same gender loving persons as people or having any rights or persons with disabilities was with a view to meet the United Nations Periodical review as seen HERE on my sister blog GLBTQJA.

The lengthy statement as well is soooooo late, why didn't we have larger consultations with the wider lgbt body politic and respective communities on these issues to bring a better understanding on the issues and possible implications due to our non recognition by government? Instead sad to say I and others find ourselves criticizing a limp-wristed set of advocates who wait until the ninth hour to put this out. So the pretend advocacy continues after 13 years of existence. The last minute petition doesn't seem to have yielded much with only a dreary 413 signatures despite the J's worldwide appeal that it still falls back on as locally more and more persons are just becoming fed up with their lack of presence and growing ineffectiveness. through all those two negatives they restructured with an Executive Director position and a new Programs Manager and still limp-wristed. If you guessed it well some are angry right now.

Did we really expect a government dealing with a commission of enquiry that may put them out of office, an economy that is making people depressed, a trust factor that is eroding by the hour and a member of their own labelled as a buggerer is going to capitulate to some battyman knowing how sensitive that hot button issue is which world do you guys at JFLAG live in ????

Remember this?: Real Advocacy or Not? from February 2010 well one year and a month later we are at the same place it seems.

Peace and tolerance

H