Jamaicans for Justice
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Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) is a non-profit, non-partisan human rights organization in Jamaica. JFJ was founded in 1999 in
Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...
. The group was co-founded by Jamaican human rights activist Dr.
Carolyn Gomes ''The Honourable'' Carolyn Gomes, O.J. (born 30 March 1958 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican human rights activist. She is also the co-founder and now the past executive director of Jamaicans for Justice. Gomes resigned as the executive dir ...
who in 2008 was awarded the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights. The organization is most widely known for providing legal support to hundreds of victims of state abuse in Jamaica and litigation of human rights issues before Jamaican and international tribunals.


Origin

Jamaican for Justice (JFJ) arose out of the Gas Riots of 16 April 1999. On 19 August 1999 four months after the riots, JFJ came into being. On 15 October, it was officially a legal entity. The founders of JFJ saw strong need for a human rights action group to address the frustrations of the Jamaican people and the systemic abuse by the security forces. These frustrations included many instances of alleged corruption in the public sphere, apparent miscarriages of Justice in the judicial system and imbalances in the socio-economic system. Since its formation, JFJ has also developed working relationships with
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
,
USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
Jamaica,
The Carter Center The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn Carter partnered with Emory University just after his defeat in the 1980 United States presiden ...
, Article 21,
Street Law Street Law (also known as ''StreetLaw'') is a global program of legal and civics education geared at secondary school students. Street Law is an approach to teaching practically relevant law to grassroots populations using interactive teaching m ...
, CEJIL and the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR or, in the three other official languages Spanish, French, and Portuguese CIDH, ''Comisión Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos'', ''Commission Interaméricaine des Droits de l'Homme'', ...
.


Notable cases

JFJ has represented hundreds of low-income victims of state abuse, leading a number of campaigns in high-profile cases. * Police beating death of twenty-six-year-old Michael Gayle. Gayle, who was mentally ill, died on 23 August 1999 of injuries he sustained after attempting to pass through a police and army road block two days earlier. He was subjected to such a severe beating by police and army officers that he suffered a traumatic rupture of his stomach lining. * Police Killing of the Braeton Seven in March 2001. The police, under questionable circumstances shot and killed Reagon Beckford, 14; Christopher Grant, 17; Dane Whyte, 19; Tamoya Wilson, 20; Andre Virgo, 20; Lancebert Clarke, 19; and Curtis Smith, 20. The police officers were charged with murder and later acquitted. * 13-year-old Janice Allen was killed controversially in a crossfire between police and gunmen in April 2000. *JFJ have called for a thorough police investigation of the murder of cross-dressing teenager, Dwayne Jones, in summer 2013.


Child rights

The protection of the rights of children in the care of the Jamaican state has been an issue of concern for JFJ since 2001 but came to the fore in 2003 when citizens began to bring problems concerning children to the attention of the organisation. Since that time, JFJ has actively monitored the situation of wards of the state in children’s homes, places of safety, lock-up, remand and correctional facilities to gather data, provide reports and lobby vigorously for the protection of Jamaica’s most vulnerable citizens.


Leadership

JFJ was co-founded and led for over a decade by prominent activist Dr.
Carolyn Gomes ''The Honourable'' Carolyn Gomes, O.J. (born 30 March 1958 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican human rights activist. She is also the co-founder and now the past executive director of Jamaicans for Justice. Gomes resigned as the executive dir ...
, who was awarded the 2008 United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights. In 2016, criminologist and civil society organizer Horace Levy was appointed as executive director. Levy retired in December, 2017 and was succeeded by present executive director, Rodjé Malcolm.


References

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External links


Official website
Political advocacy groups in Jamaica Civil rights organizations Human rights in Jamaica Organizations established in 1999 1999 establishments in Jamaica