COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS DISCUSSES SECOND PERIODIC REPORT OF JAMAICA

CESCR
27th session
21 November 2001
Morning





The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this morning discussed a second periodic report from Jamaica in the absence of a Government delegation from the country.

Committee Chairperson Virginia Bonoan-Danadan said that Jamaica had requested the postponement of the scheduled consideration of the report to a future date, however, the request was not made within the period of time prescribed under the Committee's rules of procedure. The Committee had therefore decided to go ahead with its examination of the report.

The Committee Experts, among other things, said that the absence of legislation explicitly prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex had had a negative effect on women; a culture of violence was rooted in the Jamaican society; child prostitution was widespread because of sex tourism; there was a high rate of homicide; and the white minority was discriminated against by the black majority.

The Committee will issue its concluding observations on the second periodic report of Jamaica towards the end of its three-week session to be concluded on 30 November.

Jamaica is among the 145 States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and as such it is obligated to present periodic reports to the Committee on how it was giving effect to the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will discuss its draft conclusions on the report of Sweden in private.


Report of Jamaica

The second periodic report of Jamaica, which is contained in document E/1990/6/Add.28, enumerates the administrative, juridical and legislative measures taken by the State party in order to abide by its obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It says that with respect to economic rights, efforts have been made to improve the status of women who have been challenged by structural adjustment and stabilization policies and who have developed coping strategies in the face of economic hardship. Limitations on women's access to credit are being dealt with and they have experienced expanded access to credit over the years. Gender equity is also being promoted through research, public education, sensitization, enterprise creation and access to credit. There have also been legislative changes to support and to ensure equal rights of men and women in relation to inheritance, employment, citizenship, nationality and matrimony.

The report notes that while there does not exist in Jamaica any specific article dealing with the right to work, there is also no restriction on this right. This implied right transcends all social, religious, racial and gender barriers. In 1997, the average unemployment rate for the country was 16.5 per cent. The unemployment rate for males is 10.6 per cent and for females it is 23.5 per cent, more than double that of their male counterparts.

Wages are determined through the free interaction of demand and supply in the labour market, and also by negotiations between workers, their representatives and employers, the report says. The Government intervenes in the market to ensure a basic level of remuneration through the establishment of a wage floor. The minimum wage is set, reviewed and adjusted by the Minimum Wage Advisory Commission, which is a tripartite body comprising representatives of workers' and employers' organizations and a neutral chairman. There are no restrictions on any group of workers to join or form a trade union.

The report says that Jamaica's social security provisions are realized through a contributory National Insurance Scheme established in 1966 and administered by the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Sport. It provides protection for those in the formal employment sector. Contributions are mandatory and are in accordance with the salary earned. Protection is provided for contributors and their families against loss of income arising from retirement, old age, death, permanent disablement or employment-related injury of the wage earner.

According to the report, access to basic education is virtually universal; primary education is compulsory and free of charge; health insurance coverage in 1996 continued to be low for the country at only 9.8 per cent of all patients; the housing stock and general housing conditions continued to improve in 1996; and no direct estimates of GNP per capita for the poorest 40 per cent of households are available.

The core document provided by Jamaica points out that the country's social indicators have tended to be quite good. In terms of education, the adult literacy rate stood at 75.4 per cent in 1994 and school enrolment at the primary and secondary levels was close to 100 per cent. However, the stabilization and structural adjustment processes have had tremendous social costs. The Government's expenditure on social welfare and services has been constrained under structural adjustment by the large debt burden, the downsizing of the public service and the privatization of certain services. As a consequence, services such as health and education have received insufficient funding, resulting in a critical shortage of manpower and equipment, which has had an adverse impact on the quality of these services.


Discussion

In the absence of a Government delegation from Jamaica, the Committee discussed the situation in the country. Some Experts said Jamaica's Constitution did not prohibit explicitly discrimination based on sex. Article 2 of the Covenant stipulated that "States parties undertake to guarantee that the rights enunciated in the Covenant would be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status". The hierarchy of international treaties, such as the International Covenant, within the national legal system was not indicated in the report.

The Secretariat was asked if Jamaica had denounced the Option Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was confirmed. Another Expert said that Jamaica's denunciation was based on the fact that 90 per cent of Human Rights Committee's cases dealt with capital punishment in Jamaica.

The Experts said that the Committee should look at the detrimental effects of the structural adjustment programmes on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, especially by the most vulnerable sectors of Jamaican society. The situation of women in Jamaica needed special attention because discrimination against women was continuing.

There was a high rate of homicide in Jamaica, which was unusually high, an Expert said. Common law marriage was also high with children born out of wedlock. The high number of HIV/AIDS victims had also been alarming and a fertile terrain for child prostitution had attracted many sex tourists.

An Expert said that the movement of Ras Tafarians was widespread and its members had spiritual aspirations to return to Africa. The portraits of Emperor Haile Selassie, who was the timeless hope of the movement, were posted everywhere in the country, and Ras Tafarians were popular among the population. The report did not mention anything about the situation of Ras Tafarians.

Another Expert said that the consequences of the 11 September attacks had been severely felt in Jamaica with a drastic decline in the influx of tourists, which was the main source of revenue in the country. Because of that situation, deep poverty had been manifested among groups of persons who depended on tourism.

A culture of violence had developed in Jamaica and the problem had persisted; there was also male violence against women, an Expert said. In addition to violence among men, sexual and domestic violence against women continued. Another Expert also said that the capital city Kingstone was divided among rival mafia groups, and the security situation was questionable with a rising rate of criminality.

An Expert said that 70 per cent of unemployed persons in Jamaica had no recognized formal education; they were illiterate; and the majority of them were women. The social security scheme covered only those working in the formal employment services, leaving many workers in the informal services unprotected.

There was discrimination against the white population of Jamaica by the black majority, an Expert said, adding that the white population made up 0.2 per cent of the total population.

Referring to a report, an Expert said that the Jamaican society provided tacit approval to violence; corporal punishment was widespread with children beaten on many occasions; and school girls were among the victims of rape because of the belief that a "virgin had a curing effect".




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