Workshop on Human Rights for Media Practitioners

Media practitioners are being invited to attend a workshop on human rights at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston on Friday, February 6 from 9:00 am to noon.

Sponsored by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in collaboration with the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), the event is designed to sensitize media personnel about the activities of the Commission and to explain the differences between the work of the IACHR and other non-government groups concerned about human rights issues. It will be held under the theme: ‘Freedom of Information and You’.

Targeted are media personnel including representatives from the Press Association of Jamaica, Media Association of Jamaica, students and lecturers from the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) and relevant civil society groups.

Information Minister, Senator Burchell Whiteman, will open the workshop, while Dr. Joan Neil, Director of the Organization of American States (OAS), will bring greetings.

The workshop will take the form of a panel discussion and an expert team of resource persons has been assembled to field questions. Panelists include Clare Roberts, First Vice-President of the IACHR, who will speak on the relevance of the Inter American system in the context of the Caribbean; Santiago Canton, Executive Secretary, who will speak on Freedom of Information and the types of cases that have come before the Commission in this area, particularly in the context of Jamaica with the implementation of the Access to Information Act; and Staff Attorney, Brian Tittemore, who will give an overview of the IACHR system.

Candis Hamilton, head of the IACHR Kingston office, will be the moderator for the panel discussion.

At the end of the day, participants will receive certificates for taking part in the workshop.