A US state department report released Monday has brought attention to “serious human rights breaches” committed by Jamaican security forces, and made specific reference to several instances last year of “unlawful and unwarranted killings.”

One of them was the March 2 shooting last year of three men in Burnt Savannah.

According to the report, the police described the incident as a shoot-out but eyewitnesses claimed that the policemen ordered the men out of their car and shot them at close range.

It also cited the September 19 slaying of Sandra Sewell and Gayon Alcott in August Town, allegedly by Jamaica Defence Force soldiers, during a post-Hurricane Ivan curfew.

Similarly on December 24, the report said, police killed 15-year-old Donovan Hayles and 7-year-old Shakeia Thompson in Old Braeton, St Catherine.

But while the police had described the incident as a shoot-out with gunmen, local residents said Hayles was disarmed and the police randomly fired assault rifles to give the appearance of a shoot-out, killing Thompson in the process.

Jamaica was one of 196 countries featured in the State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices produced by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

The reports are compiled from data originating from embassies in the respective countries, asked to submit information or to corroborate reports of human rights violations.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who submitted the report to congress, prefaced the document with the comment that it was part of US policy “to seek and support democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny” in the world.

She said the reports equip the US government to “more effectively stand against oppression and for human dignity and liberty.”

The report on Jamaica noted that there were no politically motivated killings last year, but that the abuse of prisoners and detainees and the arbitrary arrest and detention of suspects remained a problem.

“Although the government moved to investigate incidents of police abuses and punish some of those police involved, continued impunity for police who commit abuses remained a problem,” it stated.

“Prison and jail conditions remained poor; overcrowding, brutality against detainees, and poor sanitary conditions were problems.”

Asked to comment on the report, justice minister AJ Nicholson declined, stating that he had not yet seen.

Similarly, Dr Carolyn Gomes, executive director of the local human rights lobby group Jamaicans for Justice, was unwilling to comment.

“I haven’t had a chance to study it in detail . to check it for accuracy, so I wouldn’t be prepared to comment at this stage,” she said.

The report also cited at least 14 vigilante killings during the year, done with various motives.

“Human rights advocates contended that the police did not consider such killings a priority and expressed concern that the perpetrators rarely were charged.”

There was concern about what the report described as “a culture of severe discrimination” against persons who were homosexuals, with reference to the June 9 slaying of Brian Williamson, the prominent homosexual rights activist, and the reported beating of two men in Kingston on June 24 by a group of armed men, including entertainer Buju Banton.

“Human Rights Watch expressed concern that Banton may never face charges and warned that the artist’s fame, and the stigma attached to the homosexual victims, hindered a thorough and expedient police investigation. At year’s end, Banton had been arrested and released on bail; there was no information concerning the others involved.”

Mention was made in the report that under The Offenses Against the Person Act, intimacy between men and such “acts of gross decency” are still punishable by 10 years imprisonment, and it pointed to a statement made by Prime Minister PJ Patterson that the country would not be pressured to change its anti-homosexual laws.

US report cites Jamaica for

. unlawful police killings

. unlawful detention of citizens

. culture of severe gay discrimination

. vigilante killings

. brutalised detainees

– greenev@jamaicaobserver.com