CONSTITUTIONAL lawyer Dr Lloyd Barnett says while Jamaica has passed many laws and established agencies to ensure that citizens enjoy their rights, the country has failed miserably in achieving the objectives of its legal and institutional framework.

Dr Barnett, who was the keynote speaker at the 2022 Human Rights Forum put on by the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, on Monday said while Jamaica has had comprehensive constitutional guarantees of human rights supplemented by extensive statutory provisions, the question remained whether it has “effectively realised human rights”.

“As we have seen there are comprehensive, constitutional, statutory and general legal provisions which protect or support the human rights of Jamaicans. There are also many institutions and authorities with the duty and power to ensure that we enjoy those rights. We have made substantial progress in establishing the legal framework and the agencies necessary for ensuring that Jamaicans enjoy their human rights, yet it is true to say that in many areas we have failed to achieve the objectives of the legal and institutional framework that we have established,” Dr Barnett stated.

In arguing that the right to life and security of the person is probably the most challenging aspect of Jamaica’s experience in the 60 years since Independence, Dr Barnett said the island in its downward slide risks “losing a substantial segment of the upcoming generation to poverty and crime”.

In questioning the seeming reliance on states of public emergency to deal with the island’s escalating crime Dr Barnett said, “Apart from the dubious constitutional validity of treating SOEs as a permanent crime-fighting mechanism, its long-term effectiveness is at the best dubious.”

Pointing to a 16-point proposal he made over 20 years ago to deal with the security and justice system, which he says has been largely ignored, Dr Barnett said after years of review and study of the problem he remains sold on those proposals. Included in that proposition was a recommendation that the “influence of criminal dons in communities be diminished by providing alternative support systems and positive role models” and that “all linkages between political parties and criminals be severed”.

He, in the meantime, lamented the state of children in the country.

“We have continued during our 60 years of Independence to observe, preserve and even strengthen certain fundamental rights such as the freedom of speech, the freedom of movement, freedom of association, yet as a nation we have failed to take proper care our children,” Dr Barnett told individuals.

“Thousands of children who were registered as students are not attending school regularly or at all. The examination results have been more than disappointing. The Patterson Commission report has documented and highlighted great deficiencies. Discipline has deteriorated and violence in school communities has become commonplace,” he further said.

Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte, King’s Counsel, on Tuesday announced that Barnett has agreed to serve on the Constitutional Reform Committee which will play a key role in ensuring Jamaica’s transition to a republic. He is the first member to be publicly announced as the others are to be named later this month.

Saturday, December 10 was observed as the International Day of Human Rights.