THE P.J. Patterson-led Government this week sent a statement to all foreign missions based in Jamaica outlining its position on the recently-released Amnesty International reports dealing with the Braeton Seven and general police excesses.
Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Paul Robertson told the diplomats that the Government has dismissed the reports as a gross misrepresentation of police conduct and human rights in Jamaica. He told them too that several allegations made against the police in the reports were "one-sided, false and misleading".
Amnesty International released its two reports in Kingston last week, triggering widespread public debate. Amnesty said it will take them to international governments to pressure Jamaica to deal with existing human rights concerns on the island.
But Dr. Robertson told diplomats that no effort was made in the reports, "towards a balanced assessment of the evidence presented and no attempt made to substantiate a whole range of allegations made against the police".
He cited a number of discrepancies such as "exaggerated figures" for homicides in 1997 and the assertion by the human rights body that post mortem examinations into violent deaths were discretionary under Jamaican law. He denied the claim by Amnesty that no disciplinary or criminal action was taken when civilians were killed by the police.
"It ignores or belittles all initiatives taken by the Government to deal with instances of police misconduct. It is clear that the authors of the report were very selective in their sources of information as well as their targets", Dr. Robertson said in his statement to the diplomats.
He told them too that the Jamaican Government would not be bullied by threats from Amnesty to lobby against Jamaica on the global scene. Dr. Robertson accused Amnesty head Pierre Sane of attempting to "embarrass the government" into adopting policies prescribed by the international human rights body such as the abolition of capital punishment.
