Editorial | Public Defender’s next step

It would be a stretch to characterise the situation as a crisis.

However, The Gleaner shares the concern of the public defender, Carolyn Reid-Cameron, about the general ignorance of Jamaicans of their fundamental rights and freedoms, and their seeming readiness to trade them away, or have them encroached upon, for promises of abstract gains. And it is easier still when it’s other people’s rights that are on the block.

Having recognised the problem, Ms Reid-Cameron must now lead, not call for, a sustained public information/education campaign about human rights, as well as execute the public defender’s specific mandate to help citizens facing abuse by state agencies. The Office of the Public Defender should collaborate on such a project in concert with rights-focused NGOs, whose work has been subjected to much criticism from some government agencies and top officials, especially those related to security.

Public defender (the successor to the defunct office of the ombudsman) is an independent commission of Parliament. It marked its 25th anniversary last week.

The law empowers the public defender to investigate situations where individuals or groups, believe that they have, or are likely to sustain “injustice as a result of any action taken by an authority (of the State) or an officer or member of such authority” in carrying out its administrative functions.

Additionally, infringement, or threats to people’s constitutional rights “as a result of any action taken by an authority” are also subject to scrutiny from the public defender, who makes recommendations for redress in reports to Parliament.

SIGNIFICANT SUCCESSES

In its time the office has had significant, high-profile successes.

In 2015, for instance, 52 years after the incident, the public defender published a report into the so-called Coral Gardens uprising that recommended that the Government apologise to Rastafarians who suffered abuse in the affair, and set up a J$10 million fund in support of survivors. Prime Minister Andrew Holness issued the apology and announced the fund in 2017.

Further, it was the Office of the Public Defender that collated the names of at least 70 people who were killed by the security forces during the 2010 Tivoli Gardens operation, as well as gathered swathes of statements from residents, which became the basis for a subsequent public inquiry into the matter. The commission’s report made damning findings against the police and the army.

But in remarks last week, Ms Reid-Cameron complained about the readiness of Jamaicans to allow the State to trespass on their rights.

“I have found that in this country, incrementally we are leaning back and allowing a lot of our rights to be encroached upon …,” she said.

Citizens, the public defender argued, didn’t appreciate “the jeopardy” they risked with this attitude, exemplified by the increasing comfort and calls by many for the use of states of public emergency and zones of special operations as crime-fighting tools.

Ms Reid-Cameron didn’t dismiss, or make light of citizens’ responsibility, which tends to be default accusation against proponents of human rights. Rather, she was clear about the dangers to individuals’ rights and freedoms in situations of ignorance and apathy.

In that regard, The Gleaner welcomes the declaration by the justice minister, Delroy Chuck, of the administration’s “unwavering support for the continued work of the public defender” and for “human rights protection in Jamaica”.

Mr Chuck’s support suggests a basis for Ms Reid-Cameron to lobby for additional resources – funding and staff – with which to expand the work of her office, including on behalf of poor and less educated Jamaicans, who, too often, are subjected to arbitrary treatment by institutions and agents of the State.

Further, as the act provides for, the entrenchment of the public defender in the Constitution must be higher on the agenda in the post-election round of constitutional review.

In the meantime, work should begin on amendments for a more expansive legislation, including granting that office powers to investigate actions by agencies which may infringe upon the rights of citizens.