Thursday, March 06, 2014 | 8:17 PM
The following opinion was submitted to the Jamaica Observer by Jamaicans For Justice
On February 24, the government released the names of the three commissioners and the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the long-awaited Commission of Enquiry (COE) into the May 2010 events in Western Kingston. While Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) welcomes this development, we have a number of remaining concerns.
The process of public consultation undertaken by the government has led to improvements in the TOR. There are now, for example, two TORs, which focus on “the chain of command in relation to the decisions concerning operations by the security forces…the respective responsibilities of each person in that chain of command” and “whether there was any dereliction of duty or unlawful conduct…attributable to any person… in that chain of command.
Also, the TOR dealing with violation of rights has been strengthened to mandate inquiry into “whose rights were violated, and the manner and extent of such violations, and by whom such violations were perpetrated.
It is disappointing, however, that the TOR do not spell out the specific allegations of human rights abuses for inquiry, which is in contrast to the specific allegations about civilians’ actions that are clearly spelt out. more
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