Dr. Phillips Calls for International Solution to Deportation

Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, has said that the number of criminal offenders being deported to Jamaica is a cause for concern, and the international community should do more to address the problem.
“If we accept that crime and criminality in today’s globalised world requires an international solution, then obviously more must be done by the international community to tackle this problem,” Dr. Phillips said during his contribution to the 2007/08 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives yesterday (June 13). “It makes no sense to remove people from more secure to less secure environments, thinking that we have solved the problem,” he stated, noting that “the scale of deportation activity in and of itself is cause for concern.
“In effect, deportation practically doubles the number of criminal offenders, who are released onto our streets each year,” Dr. Phillips pointed out, informing that last year alone, almost 2,000 criminal offenders were deported to Jamaica.
The National Security Minister said that to tackle the problem, the international community should provide support for the re-integration of deportees who need training, and re-socialization; increase support for law enforcement services in the receiving countries; and develop greater measures of collaboration in managing the process of deportation.
In the meantime, Dr. Phillips said that Jamaica has already began to implement several of the recommendations that have been made by the research team, which carried out a study on deportation, and its effect on crime.
As part of the recommendations, a unit is to be established within the Ministry to provide oversight for all matters relating to deportation. The unit will also liaise with the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the legal departments, stakeholder Ministries and agencies, as well as the community.
The government also intends to introduce legislation to strengthen the current provisions for the monitoring of high-risk offenders.