from the Jamaica Gleaner By Mark Beckford, Staff ReporterMention the name of Flankers in Montego Bay to Jamaicans who are familiar with current affairs, and they could tell you a thing or two that are not impressive about it.This image is, however, being changed by the work of the Flankers Peace and Justice Centre, which has been able to bring down the incidents of crime and violence in the community.Allan Bernard and his team have been influential in the whole process. Bernard, who is Flankers-born and bred, has seen his community go through many stages of change in both peace and violence.Bernard, a UWI graduate now pursuing a PhD at the University of Cape Town, described Flankers as a community with inner-city features which include violence, poverty, unemployment and strong family...
from The Jamaica ObserverCOREY ROBINSON, ORATIO Williams, 42, is caught between a rock and a hard place.The father of four was among several squatters in the 'Bofa Road' community in Clarendon whose houses were demolished by the police last MondayBut although Williams is faced with the burden of not having a roof over his children's head, he also has to deal with threats from gunmen, who run amok in a section of the impoverished community."Is years me live in Bofa Road, but the reason why I come down here, apart from the fact that me don't really have anywhere to live up there, is because me don't have any security up at there either," Williams said, as he pointed to a section of the community which he said has been targeted on a number of occasions by gunmen."Gunman can come in on we up...
from the Jamaica ObserverLesley WroughtonDevelopment ministers from around the globe on Sunday called for urgent action to stem soaring food prices, warning that social unrest will spread unless the cost of basic staples is contained.World Bank president Robert Zoellick and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have said the issue of skyrocketing food prices needs to be front and centre at the highest political level in every country, and Brown said he would raise it at meetings of the Group of Eight powerful nations.Concerns about rising food costs took on new urgency as senators in Haiti ousted Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis after a week of food-related rioting in which at least five people were killed. There have also been protests in Cameroon, Niger and Burkina Faso in Arica, and...
from the GuardianInner cities at mercy of gangs and corrupt police· State failing to protect poor, says AmnestyRory Carroll,Jamaica has abandoned its ghettoes to violent crime and shocking levels of police brutality, leaving communities terrorised and bereft of hope, according to a report.Armed gangs and corrupt police units have turned inner cities into arenas of mayhem and impunity, with killings taking place in daylight, Amnesty International says in a report published today.The investigation, Let Them Kill Each Other, depicts a Hobbesian world where many slum-dwellers are condemned to a life that is poor, brutish and short. "There is a public security crisis in Jamaica and the state is failing to effectively provide human security to its population, especially to those most...
from the Jamaica GleanerPoverty costs the Jamaican economy up to $20 billion, according to research undertaken by a senior academic at the University of the West Indies (UWI).Dr Michael Whitter, senior lecturer in the Department of Economics at the UWI, said these losses, which equate to about four per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), were caused by three main factors. These factors are the cost of crime, 1.3 per cent; health, 1.2 per cent; and unemployment, 1.3 per cent.GDP, which the World Bank estimated for Jamaica at $500 billion last year, is defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced within a given country in a given period of time.Perception of povertyWhitter, who was speaking at a seminar on the cost of poverty in the Caribbean, held at...
from the Jamaica ObserverDR Wesley Hughes, the director general of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), says Jamaica will have a difficult time decreasing national poverty much below the 14 per cent mark unless the country can creatively target the illiterate and unskilled."We've been able to move the poverty ratio from 30 down to 14 [but] it becomes more difficult now to move it further down...We have a hard core now who are illiterate and who have very low skills and it is very difficult to move that core out of poverty," he said.Dr Hughes, who was speaking at the launch of the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions 2006, said that special projects and programmes aimed directly at the disadvantaged group were necessary because many of them have not been able to access other...
Widespread Homophobic Violence Shows Failure of Police Protection
A homophobic mob attack in Jamaica that left one man severely injured and another missing and feared dead shows yet again that authorities must take urgent action against violence and hatred, Human Rights Watch said today. This incident is the latest in a string of homophobic mob violence over the last year, including an attack on mourners in a church....
from The Jamaica GleanerGareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner ReporterDenise Eldemire-Shearer, professor of public health and ageing at the University of the West Indies, is concerned that large numbers of elderly people living below the poverty line are going undetected by social and planning agencies.Furthermore, she is advocating the introduction of compulsory pension benefits to provide economic support for people during their twilight years.The Planning Institute of Jamaica's (PIOJ) 'Survey of Living Conditions 2004' states that the elderly constitute 13 per cent of the nation's poor, and over 15 per cent of Jamaica's senior citizens are living below the poverty line. The poorest and most dependent tend to be women.Not recorded as being in needSpeaking against this background, Professor...
from Jamaica GleanerJamaica has, reportedly, had another slight decline in the country's incidence of poverty, with the percentage of the population below the poverty line moving down to 14.3 per cent in 2006.This is half-a-per cent down from the 14.8 per cent recorded in 2005.The latest decline is, reportedly, one of the main findings in the '2006 Survey of Living Conditions', produced by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ).It is a smaller dip, however, than that recorded the previous year when the survey reported a startling 2.1 per cent drop in the incidence of poverty.Details soonDetails of the survey will be provided by the PIOJ soon but, in the meantime, Faith Innerarity, permanent secretary (acting) in the Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, yesterday provided...
from The Jamaica GleanerKeith Collister, Business WriterThe Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) believes that a long term increase in the standard of living of the Jamaican people can only be achieved through a focus on growth, rather than mere poverty alleviation.Jamaica's growth will be "private sector led, government facilitated", in the words of Prime Minister-designate Bruce Golding.DEBT REDUCTIONThe central plank of the JLP's pro-growth policy is job creation.Golding will make it a Government priority to seek out job creating investments, looking specifically for investments that are labour intensive.He also says he will bring to fruition the long delayed Social Partnership agreement between government, opposition, private sector and trade unions as part of a shared vision of the way...
from The Jamaica Gleanerhe Organisation of American States (OAS), in collaboration with the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), will host a three-day regional workshop, starting today. The workshop aims to introduce the concept and framework of the highly-acclaimed Chilean poverty eradication model, 'The Puente (Bridge) Programme', to several Caribbean countries.The workshop, which will be held at the Hilton Kingston hotel in New Kingston, will be attended by participants from Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, and Jamaica - the countries which will pilot the programme in the Caribbean. In addition, representatives from the social development funds in Latin America, Dominica and Haiti will also attend.Building programmeScarlette Gillings, JSIF's managing director and also vice-president...
from The Jamaica GleanerGareth Davis and Howard Campbell, Gleaner WritersTwenty-three Haitians landed in Port Antonio, Portland, yesterday. The group, comprising 19 males and four females, is the largest to arrive in Jamaica since more than 300 of their countrymen were repatriated by the Government just over two years ago.At 9:15 a.m. a local marine police patrol spotted the 20-foot boat carrying the Haitians just over one mile off the coast of Norwich. They were escorted to the Port Antonio Police Station.The group includes three teenagers, two males and a female. They said they left their homeland, Saturday night, owing to political unrest. Police sources said at least one member of the group has been here before.A team from the Ministry of Health examined the Haitians, who were...
from The Jamaica ObserverMINISTER of Education and Youth, Maxine Henry-Wilson, has said that the building of a strong foundation for early childhood education and development would help to reduce poverty in Jamaica."Early childhood education, building a strong foundation, is going to be the basis on which we are going to break that inter-generational poverty where children are given that chance in life to optimise all of their talents," she said.She was addressing the official launch of the public education campaign on the Early Childhood Act, Regulations and Standards on January 24 at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston.The legislation, which comes into effect this year, requires that all institutions be registered.There are also new standards for quality delivery, which require...
from The Western Catholic ReporterSt. Theresa parishioners witness people's struggle to survive destitutionBy RAMON GONZALEZOJamaica is a popular tourist destination with thousands of Canadians visiting the Caribbean island of 2.7 million every year to enjoy its beaches.But beyond the luxurious beach resorts there lies a different reality - one of extreme poverty and need that affects more than 20 per cent of its inhabitants.Aware of this reality, 10 members of St. Theresa Parish in Millwoods, including Father Martin Carroll, the pastor, travelled to the island in October at the invitation of the Diocese of Mandeville to build houses for the poor.The group also visited orphanages, homes for the elderly, schools and several needy families who had received houses from the diocese in the...
2006 Awards for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights
Gareth Williams, a leading AIDS activist and voice for the rights of sexual minorities in Jamaica and the English-speaking Caribbean, is the recipient of the 2006 International Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Human Rights Watch announced today. Stella, a Montréal-based support and information group organized by and for sex workers, is the recipient of the Canadian award....
As fears arise that two women were murdered because of their alleged lesbian relationship, Jamaican authorities must immediately investigate the crime, Human Rights Watch said in a letter sent to the Jamaican government today. It should also act to combat the continuing climate of violent homophobia....