Government Reaffirms Commitment to Protection of Human Rights

The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, including through the fulfilment of reporting obligations, and the strengthening of critical partnerships.

Addressing the opening ceremony for the Government of Jamaica/Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Workshop on Human Rights Treaty Body Reporting on July 7, Under-Secretary, Multilateral Affairs Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Ambassador Shorna-Kay Richards, said Jamaica has long demonstrated its commitment to the international human rights framework.

She said as a State party to seven of the nine United Nations Human Rights Treaties, as well as several protocols, along with the treaties in the International American System and other international bodies, Jamaica has a set of reporting obligations under each body.

“Through our reporting experiences over the years, we recognise that treaty body reporting is not merely a procedural obligation. Rather, it is an essential mechanism through which States assess progress, identify challenges, strengthen institutions, and promote greater accountability in the implementation of human rights,” she said.

“In its ongoing efforts to support the promotion and protection of human rights, the Government of Jamaica, therefore, continues to make its best efforts to strengthen the approaches to ensure compliance with human rights reporting obligations. Notwithstanding the progress we have made, to date, and there has been indeed increased progress, there is need for further efforts to improve our human rights reporting architecture and, therefore, through this joint GOJ-OHCHR workshop, we hope to achieve a few things,” she pointed out.

The two-day workshop is being held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in downtown Kingston.

Ambassador Richards, who is also Chair of the Interministerial Committee on Human Rights noted that the workshop will assist in ensuring that Jamaica is better prepared and more compliant with international treaty reporting obligations.

“We hope to deepen our understanding of the United Nations treaty bodies and their reporting procedures and, importantly, also their cycles. We hope to share experiences and provide guidance on the procedures for drafting reports to ensure compliance with Jamaica’s obligations to these bodies, and to do so in a timely, in a coordinated and in an effective manner. Thirdly, we hope to enable participants to have the technical know-how in drafting required human rights treaty bodies reports, and the importance of timely submission,” she added.

Furthermore, she said the establishment of the OHCHR regional office in May 2024 marked a significant milestone in the UN human rights engagement with the English-speaking Caribbean region.

“It has certainly enabled a deeper and a more sustained dialogue and cooperation tailored to the unique context and realities of our region,” she said.

She used the opportunity to commend the Regional Representative and her team on the work undertaken, to date, and for their dedication, for their professionalism and partnership.

Regional Representative, CARICOM Regional Office, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Brathwaite, said human rights are often perceived as a responsibility of a single ministry or an institution, and in reality, it is nothing further from the truth.

“Whether we are talking about education or health, justice, gender equality, disability inclusion, social protection, citizen security or environmental protection, every institution has a role to play in the human rights agenda. Human rights are reflected in the decisions governments make every day, in the policies they develop, in the services they deliver, and in the laws they implement,” she said.

She added that the workshop is about understanding how each institution contributes to advancing human rights through the work it already does.

She added that the international human rights recommendations that are provided to governments provide an opportunity to assess what is working, where additional effort is needed, and to strengthen public institutions.

“They also provide a really important opportunity to build greater trust between governments and the people they serve, by demonstrating transparency, accountability, and a commitment to that continuous improvement… . The human rights system provides a framework to help governments to develop better policies and strengthen institutions,” she added.