October 24, 2000
JAMAICANS UNITED AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY AS to investigate human rights abuse in Guyana -- What about Jamaica? Dear Friends, Jamaicans United Against Police Brutality (JUAPB) wishes to endorse the decision of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to begin hearing testimony from survivors of police violence and survivors of victims of police murder in Guyana. (See article below.) Special encouragement goes out to I. Kamau Cush, Chairman of the Movement for Economic Empowerment and executive member of the Guyana Institute for Democracy and Mr. Lloyd Joseph, attorney-at-law for presenting the case before the Commission. While JUAPB is trying to bring international attention to a similar practice of police extrajudicial killings in Jamaica, sanctioned by government as a form of social control, we also recognize that Jamaica is not the only Caribbean country where this practice has reached pathological proportions. A public inquiry into the operations of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, led by international human rights organizations and activists, is now an urgent necessity in Jamaica. There is no internal body outside of the government and the judicial system which Jamaicans can appeal to conduct such a hearing. The Public Defender, Howard Hamilton, has made it clear that police brutality is not a major concern of his, and that he does not have the powers to conduct the kind of public hearings which are necessary. Like Guyana where even senior police officers are involved in questionable killings, a senior police officer in Jamaica, Reneto Adams, was recently appointed to head the Prime Minister's newest crime fighting gimmick, though there is credible reason to believe that he was directly involved some months ago in the murder of man in the Mountain View Avenue area of Kingston. There is no indication that there was ever any serious investigation of the killing. And now that Senior Superintendent Adams has been promoted, there is even less reason to believe that anything will ever come of the investigation into his involvement in the killing. One of many examples of how the police kill with impunity and with the approval of the state. In addition to reserving the right to call for a boycott of Jamaica's tourist industry as a way of bringing pressure to bear on government to end police killings, we are now calling for an internationally-led public hearing on police brutality in Jamaica. The question of whether this will be done through the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (from which the Jamaican government has threatened to withdraw), the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, or some other reputable body, is something which is now open for discussion. Ultimately, it is the people of Jamaica or Guyana who must decide whether their police force is beyond reform. It is their decision whether a government which sanctions police murder has the legal or moral right to rule. In the interim, and without trying to substitute themselves for the people, the role of pressure groups is to encourage the widest possible sanctions against criminal state attacks on the human right to life. The is about the quality of our civilization and it affects us all. Lloyd D'Aguilar
OAS to Investigate Human
Rights Abuses in Guyana
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights - the human rights watchdog organization of the Organization of American States (OAS) - will visit Guyana to hear testimony from survivors of police violence and survivors of victims of police murder. The Commission stated its intention to Guyana's Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Odeen Ishmael, during a "Hearing of a General Nature on the Situation of Human Rights in Guyana" which was held on October 12, 2000 at the Commission's headquarters in Washington DC. During the Hearing, the Commission heard testimony from Mr. I. Kamau Cush, Chairman of the Movement for Economic Empowerment and executive member of the Guyana Institute for Democracy and Mr. Lloyd Joseph, attorney-at-law. Mr. Cush and Mr. Joseph presented the Commission with detailed evidence of a pattern and practice of wanton police violence in Guyana that has resulted in the deaths of 64 unarmed civilians at the hands of the Black Clothes Death Squad since 1996. The Black Clothes Death Squad runs rampant throughout Guyana. And the two men directly responsible for their organization and existence are Mr. Ronald Gajraj, Minister of Home Affairs and Mr. Laurie Lewis, Police Commissioner. Both men have turned a blind eye to the terror rampage of this group of thugs that is led by Deputy Superintendent Leon Fraser. The Commission saw pictures of one the Death Squad's victims - Colin McGregor. Mr. McGregor, 23, was shot several times in the back and killed by members of the Black Clothes Death Squad on November 14, 1999. To date no one has been arrested, charged, prosecuted and punished for that murder. In today's Guyana the concept of due process under the law is non-existent. Gone are the days when one can be assured, if accused of a crime, of being arrested, charged, tried before an impartial judge and/or jury, and, if found guilty, given an appropriate sentence. Nowadays, one is simply shot dead by the police. The Death Squad is now judge, jury and executioner. Take the case of 29-year-old, Shawn Nedd. Mr. Nedd was assisting the police with a simple larceny investigation in February of this year when he was suddenly thrown into a police vehicle and shot dead by Police Officer, Ryon Gomes. To date, Mr. Gomes has not been arrested, charged, prosecuted and punished for this murder. He is still on active duty. Even in cases where a feeble attempt is made to prosecute Death Squad members, the prosecution is sabotaged. On June 19, 1998 Victor Bourne was shot and killed by Senior Superintendent, Stephan Merai and Deputy Superintendent, Leon Fraser while he was asleep in his bed next to his two-year-old son. Merai and Fraser are the two leaders of the Black Clothes Death Squad. A "judicial inquiry" was concocted and evidence was taken from several eyewitnesses. On January 6, 1999 all documents required to prosecute Merai and Fraser disappeared mysteriously from the office of Chief Magistrate, Paul Fung-a-Fat. The case was shelved and Merai and Fraser are still on active duty. The Guyana government, by its unwillingness to prosecute these police officers, is, in effect, an accessory to murder. Article 1 of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man to which Guyana is a signatory, upholds the right of citizens to "life, liberty and the security of his person." In Guyana those rights are violated every day by a government whose operatives in the persons of Minister of Home Affairs, Ronald Gajraj and Police Commissioner, Laurie Lewis, encourage the cadaverous stampede of terror by the Black Clothes Death Squad. Professor Robert K. Goldman, Chairman of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a warning to the likes of Gajraj, Lewis, Merai and Fraser in a speech to the Commission last year: "The international community has made these {attacks against civilians} serious violations of international law (and) crimes of universal jurisdiction and branded their perpetrators the enemy of all mankind." In the world of the 21st century there is nowhere to hide for those who kill, or permit the killing of, unarmed civilians. The imminent visit of the Commission to investigate police murders in Guyana is welcome and timely. Guyanese citizens can now breathe a sign of relief that, at last, someone has taken notice. Click here to return to Jamaicans United Against Police Brutality homepage. |