Amnesty backs Tivoli commission of enquiry

Says Gov't ignoring human rights of poor

Jamaica Observer

Monday, May 23, 2011

HUMAN rights group Amnesty International is urging the Jamaican Government to bring prosecutions over alleged human rights violations, including the deaths of 74 people – 73 civilians and one soldier – during the operation in Tivoli Gardens and West Kingston to arrest Christopher 'Dudus' Coke last May.

However, Amnesty said that any investigation would likely be hampered by a failure of security forces to protect alleged crime scenes and to remove from service firearms for ballistic testing. It made more than 50 recommendations to the Government, including that a commission of enquiry be established.

“An independent commission of enquiry must be established in order to ensure that all human rights violations committed in Tivoli last year do not go unpunished like so many others in Jamaica,” said Chiara Liguori, who authored the report for Amnesty International.

Amnesty also cited the detention without charge of more than 4,000 people, including children, and two persons allegedly remain unaccounted for among those taken into custody.

It also criticised a lack of resources for investigations and pinpointed the Legal Medicine Unit of the security ministry, saying that a compliment of two forensic pathologists was insufficient.

“The lack of effective investigations for human rights crimes is nothing new in Jamaica,” said Liguori. “The reality is that for far too long, inner-city communities have been trapped between drug gangs and a state that ignores them.”

In its annual report published last week, Amnesty gave a damning verdict of human rights in Jamaica, including a record number of police killings last year.

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