Jackson wants to get Jamaicans fired up on rights
EU-funded project to boost awareness in schools, communities, wider society
Published:Tuesday | April 30, 2024 | 12:09 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) Executive Director Mickel Jackson hopes to inspire a passion for human rights among Jamaicans.
Speaking at the organisation’s official launch of the promotion and protection of human rights in Jamaica project yesterday at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, Jackson stated that her wish is for the citizenry to feel empowered and equipped with all the knowledge there is regarding human rights.
“The purpose of this grant is for us to get excited about human rights,” she said of the €317, 765.95 (approximately J$54 million) European Union-funded project.
She continued: “Sometimes when you hear about human rights, we think this is some high-level thing that should elude us all, but I wish for a Jamaica that our children can say, ‘I have the constitutional right to this, I have the right to that’. That’s what we want for our Jamaican citizenry – excitement about human rights.”
Jackson further said that the individuals who are part of the project, which intends to promote and protect human rights in Jamaica through education, advocacy, and legal support services, would be across the island educating individuals about their rights, and, importantly, speaking to them about understanding their rights and the responsibilities that come with those rights.
The three-year project will target adolescents and children who come in contact or conflict with the law, citizens from marginalised communities, law-enforcement officers, judiciary members, key decision makers, informal community leaders, and civil society leaders.
COMMUNITY INTERVENTION FOR AWARENESS
Under the goal of bringing awareness through education, JFJ will host at least 40 community interventions and mobile clinics across high-risk communities such as Kingston, St James, St Catherine, and Westmoreland, targeting 10,000 citizens and unattached youth who have experienced rights violations.
Additionally, social justice and life-skills sessions will be hosted within primary and secondary schools among 2,500 high-risk students, including those with physical and intellectual disabilities. Here, educational booklets on constitutional reform and human rights, a ‘Know Your Rights’ booklet for children aged 12-17, and an exercise book with child rights messages will be issued and utilised.
Also, at least 20 informal community leaders dubbed ‘justice advocates’ will be trained in social justice and restorative justice practices for improved conciliation and mediation, which seeks to help strengthen citizen-law enforcement relationship.
Under the objective of providing legal-support services, JFJ will assist at least 300 citizens by providing legal advice, representation, and documentation of rights violations. It will also explore at least one strategic litigation matter based on reports of gross human rights violations received or around a legislative issue of concern for JFJ.
USE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
Furthermore, they will conduct gender sensitive human rights training of 250 law-enforcement officers, justices of the peace, and restorative officers serving within marginalised communities.
Additionally, JFJ will be utilising digital technology to promote human-rights awareness through the implementation of its #JusticeforAll campaign; the sharing of digital stories of victims, survivors, and families detailing their experiences of state abuse, including a call to action for change; use of a weekly radio series titled ‘Let’s Talk Justice’ and make available podcast episodes on human-rights issues with youths sharing their perspectives; and finally, the development of a mobile application that will provide educational material and serve as a means of reporting human-rights violations experienced or observed.
Delivering the keynote address, Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo-Forte talked about the importance of stakeholders embracing partnerships.
“Every time I think about engagement with civil society, the line of a song comes to me, ‘We really don’t have to open the quarrels between the present and the past’, because we have a common interest even though we may not take the same positions on the issues, but I believe all well-intentioned and well-meaning Jamaicans want better for all of us,” she said.
She continued that the Government ought to rethink its approach in working with all sectors of society, especially the ones that raise issues that challenged the Government in how it leads the country.
“I am firmly of the view that an antagonistic approach which allows the frailty of our humanity to retreat, need not be the approach because I believe everyone is well-intentioned,” she added.
Malahoo-Forte also gave the assurance that her approach to her duties would always be collaborative in nature, emphasising the importance of a nation being united in the decisions it takes to solve its challenges rather than any one person finding solutions on his or her own.