Fernanda Doz Costa, (right), Amnesty International Jamaica researcher, speaks at the launch of a report on human rights abuses in Jamaica. The report, which is entitled 'Let Them Kill Each Other: Public Security in Jamaica's Inner Cities', was launched yesterday at the Hotel Four Seasons in the Corporate Area. Michelle Kagari (centre), Amnesty International public security expert, and Sonia White, of the Trench Town Peace and Justice Centre, listen. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in response to a damning Amnesty International report, has asked the human rights organisation to be sympathetic to what he says are the real difficulties faced by Jamaica in providing social services and economic opportunities.

"I urge you to be sympathetic to the real difficulties faced by a Government that must find $723 million each day to service the national debt. You will, I am sure, appreciate the extent to which this constrains our ability to address the urgent need to provide social services and economic opportunities in these areas," he said in a statement released yesterday.

The Amnesty report, entitled 'Let Them Kill Each Other: Public Security in Jamaica's Inner Cities', claims that the Jamaican state is failing to effectively provide human security for its population, especially for those living in the inner city, who are most vulnerable to crime and violence.

Gangs filling a vacuum

The report, which was released yesterday at a press conference at the Hotel Four Seasons in St Andrew, states that gangs are filling a vacuum left due to the lack of human rights-based policing and because of continued prejudiced attitudes on the part of public officials towards persons living in inner-city communities.

"The Jamaican state has the obligation under international law to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights to life," said Fernanda Doz Costa, the Jamaica researcher for Amnesty International.

Golding, however, presented a raft of initiatives which, he says, will address the concerns highlighted in the Amnesty report.

The report says that violence is confined to the inner cities and that there is a failure by the Jamaican Government to protect those who reside within those walls, effectively allowing them to kill each other.

"The report also highlights that the human rights violations experienced by these people in the inner city are reinforced by the poverty and social exclusion they live in," she continued.

The report also accused the police of lacking scrutiny and accountability in relation to allegations of corruption and human rights violations.