Joyce Hewitt (left), vice president for Public Education and Legal Reform at Woman Inc. looks on while Nancy Anderson of the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights addresses the media during a press conference to launch 'Human Rights Week' activities at the Jamaica Bar Association in downtown Kingston yesterday. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
JAMAICA'S GROWING human rights community will observe International Human Rights Day on Saturday with an eight-hour jamboree at Emancipation Park.
Joyce Hewitt of Woman Inc. and Nancy Anderson of the Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights (IJCHR) announced details of the jamboree at the Jamaica Bar Association's offices in downtown Kingston yesterday.
The Emancipation Park event - to be held under the theme, 'Know your rights, practise your responsibilities - will close a week of activities organised by local advocate groups whom Ms. Hewitt says are determined to make Jamaicans more aware of human rights.
The local human rights movement has become more diverse and aggressive in the past five years. On Saturday, it will be represented by groups like Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ), Association of Women's Organisations in Jamaica (AWOJA), Peace and Love in the Society (PALS), Citizen's Action for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) and Hope For Children Development Limited.
Internationally-recognised groups, including Amnesty International and UNICEF, will also have a presence at Emancipation Park.
Each organisation will have booths at the jamboree, presenting literature and documentaries on human rights.
RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
The week of events started Sunday with a church service at St. Phillips Anglican Church in St. Andrew. There was a 'Movie Day' yesterday and Monday for inmates at two correctional centres. Today, the schedule continues with a presentation of the 'Rights of the Child' at the Queens School in St. Andrew.
On Thursday the IJCHR and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture will launch two resource manuals at the ministry's Heroes Circle headquarters. On Friday, a presentation on the importance of human rights to society will be made at the Norman Manley High School.
