‘We Will Protect Human Rights’ -Marks

Ambassador of the United States and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Audrey Marks, has assured the international community that the Government will protect the human rights of citizens as it carries out operations to restore law and order across the country and root out criminal networks.
“I wish to underscore the importance that Jamaica places on the matter of human rights. The protection of the rights of our citizens is enshrined in Jamaica’s Constitution,” she stated.
“We firmly believe that good governance, transparency and accountability are key components in the preservation of our democratic tradition and we remain firmly committed to ensuring that while we seek to ensure peace and security in our country that every effort is made to respect the freedom and rights of every citizen,” Ambassador Marks declared.
She was addressing the 40th General Assembly of the OAS yesterday (June 7) in Lima, Peru.
Prime Minister, the Hon. Bruce Golding, in a statement in the House of Representatives on June 2, said that Government will be rooting out aggressive criminal elements that have embedded themselves in communities in many urban areas and in some rural communities.
“It is a campaign that will be sustained and intensified. It is a campaign that will target criminal gangs wherever they exist, irrespective of their political alliances or whether they have any such alliances,” Mr. Golding stated.
He said that the security forces remain instructed to take all possible precautions to avoid loss of life or injury, especially of innocent citizens.
Ambassador Marks in the meantime, stated that the Government is cognizant of the fact that the attainment of peace and security cannot be primarily focused on security operations, and has adopted strategies to ensure social cohesion and community strengthening, as well as the protection of the elderly, women, children, and persons with disabilities.