Jamaica’s Human Rights Record to be Examined

Jamaica’s human rights record will be examined by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the third time on Wednesday, in a meeting that will be webcast live.

Jamaica is one of the 14 states to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its ongoing session that ends on November 13.

Jamaica’s first and second UPR reviews took place in November 2010 and May 2015, respectively.

The UPR said that the documents on which the reviews are based include the national report provided by the State under review; information contained in the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, known as the Special Procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities.

In addition, the UPR will also discuss information provided by other stakeholders including national human rights institutions, regional organizations and civil society groups.

Because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the meeting will be held using a combination of in-person and remote participation.

The delegation of Jamaica will be headed by Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, while the three-country representatives serving as rapporteurs for the review of Jamaica are Angola, Fiji and Venezuela.

The UPR Working Group is scheduled to adopt the recommendations made to Jamaica on November 13. The State under review may wish to express its positions on recommendations posed to it during their review.

The UPR is a unique process which involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States. Since its first meeting was held in April 2008, all 193 UN member States have been reviewed twice within the first and second UPR cycles.

CMC