JAMAICANS for Justice (JFJ) has resigned from an oversight committee advising the national security ministry on anti-crime efforts, saying the committee was ineffectual.

Susan Goffe, JFJ’s chairperson, said the rights group was frustrated at the ad hoc committee’s “”lack of progress” in carrying out its mandate to reduce crime, in line with recommendations put forth two years ago by the National Committee on Crime and Violence.

The committee was formed late last year, following Prime Minister P J Patterson’s announcement of sweeping anti-crime measures.

“We really felt that, in the time period, very little had been accomplished,” Goffe added, explaining JFJ made its decision at its September 14 meeting, and then submitted its resignation this week.

JFJ officials attempted to first meet with Peter Phillips, the national security minister, she said. But they were unable to set up an appointment, apparently due to scheduling problems in the security ministry, she added.

Word of JFJ’s resignation came as the consultative committee issued a statement railing against the “pervasiveness of extortion in both urban and rural Jamaica”.

Bishop Herro Blair, who signed the committee’s statement, urged “all Jamaicans to resist being intimidated by criminal elements, and to seek instead the assistance of the Security Forces in gaining protection”.

Donovan Nelson, a spokesperson for the national security ministry, brushed aside JFJ’s charges about the committee’s value, saying “that’s their interpretation. I am sure there are others on the committee who would not agree with them.”

Nelson added that if committee members like JFJ feel the committee “is not going in a direction they would desire and they choose to resign, so be it”.

JFJ’s departure leaves only one human rights group on the committee, the Jamaica Independent Council for Human Rights. That group’s vice chairman, Dennis Daly, who sits on the consultative committee, said he sympathised with the JFJ’s frustrations.

“I think there is justification in their dissatisfaction with the way the committee is proceeding,” he said. “It meets very infrequently, and I don’t think it is really coming to grips with anything that is urgent.”

Established by the national security ministry, the consultative committee was supposed to provide oversight for the implementation of crime-fighting recommendations made by the two year-old National Committee on Crime and Violence. That committee sought to develop crime-fighting strategies that took into consideration the root causes of crime.

The 20-plus member committee includes representatives from the Lay Magistrates’ Association, churches, universities, non-governmental agencies, and various ministries and governmental agencies.