Paper on LGBT Situation in Jamaica Launched

also see: 

Govt Advances Plans to Establish National Human Rights Institute ... 2015

JFLAG had a press conference as reported on Nationwide radio on their midday news where they asked for some considerations about the previously announced human rights institute by the justice minister but I would have preferred this in June when the announcement was done and not so many months later and in the middle of an election campaign at that, this is just going to be drowned out by all the shenanigans of the internal politics that now obtains. Anyway see what you make of it as the introduction in part says below, to download the PDF go here.

National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) are State bodies with a constitutional and/or legislative mandate to protect and promote human rights. They are part of the State apparatus and are funded by the State1. Their function as enumerated by the Paris Principles is to protect and promote the human rights secured by international law within the domestic sphere of Member States of the United Nations. 

This paper seeks to question how the establishment of such an institution will impact the human rights situation within Jamaica, particularly for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. 

The paper will consider the Paris Principles which outline the operational framework, roles and responsibilities of NHRIs and make a determination as to whether there are any current spaces in which such an institution can be regarded as existing within the Jamaican context. It will then set out the situation of human rights abuses faced by the LGBT community and the legal framework within which these abuses are committed, often times with impunity. Finally, there will be an analysis of the possible formation of a Jamaican NHRI and how that will address the concerns of the LGBT community, with a view to making useful recommendations concerning the establishment of this body within our legal framework.

THE PARIS PRINCIPLES
A PUTATIVE NHRI FRAMEWORK

The Paris Principles were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in its 44th session on the 4th of March 1994. They established the minimum operational standard for NHRIs within several guidelines. The implications of these guidelines will be considered in order to weigh the possibility and merit of having an NHRI within the Jamaican jurisdiction. The first and second principles read as follow:

1. A national institution shall be vested with competence to promote and protect human rights. 

2. A national institution shall be given as broad a mandate as possible, which shall be clearly set forth in a constitutional or legislative text, specifying its composition and its sphere of competence. The first establishes the broad mandate of an NHRI.

The promotion and protection of human rights go beyond the duty on States to respect the rights of the citizen; the latter is generally framed as a duty of non-interference. Protection involves positive action by the State to ensure observance of the right by both State and non-State actors and promotion involves making persons aware of their rights and how to access them. 

The second principle requires the State to actually go through the process of lawmaking or constitutional amendment. This is an important step as a legislative or constitutional basis gives the NHRI legitimacy and some measure of credibility and accountability. Such a body cannot act outside of the four corners of its lawmaking document. This would mean Parliament would have to go through the rigorous process of drafting legislation and having public consultation. Even more so, if the method to be taken is by way of a constitutional amendment. 

Section 49 of the Jamaican Constitution outlines the varied and lengthy procedures for constitutional amendment.