Impunity Watch: North America: Jamaican Government Leads Country in Oppression of Homosexuals

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

Anonymous Jamaican man, pictured above, shows scars from knife lashing he suffered at the hands of a mob who attacked him for being gay. The man was left for dead when the police transported him to the hospital in the trunk of their patrol vehicle.

(Photo Courtesy of AP)

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Homosexuals and their advocates agree that Jamaica is the most hostile island toward homosexuals in the overwhelmingly conservative Caribbean. Homosexuals in Jamaica, and particularly in poor communities are victims of frequent abuse. The legal system in Jamaica leaves victimized homosexuals little or no recourse due to sodomy laws that ban sex between men.

Hostility against homosexuals in Jamaica is reported to exist "from the pulpit to the Parliament floor." Politicians regularly condemn homosexuals in Jamaica. Lawmaker Ernest Smith of the ruling Jamaica Labor Party expressed concern that the police force was "overrun by homosexuals" and referred to gays as "brazen," "abusive," and "violent." Prime Minister Bruce Golding has vowed to keep Jamaica's anti-sodomy law punishable by ten years. In a BBC interview last year, Golding vowed to never allow gays in his Cabinet.

Medical professionals have reported that the fear of violence against homosexuals has resulted in Jamaica men refusing to get rectal examinations for prostate cancer, due to the sexual implications of the exam. Advocates stress that the murder rate in Jamaica, which is ten times greater than in the United States, is disproportionately high among homosexuals. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both condemned homophobic remarks and violence in Jamaica. Human Rights Watch has documented numerous cases of mob violence against homosexuals in Jamaica.

Jamaican man, pictured above shows scars from a machete attack by a mob for "being gay". (Photo Courtesy of Human Rights Watch)

Anti-sodomy laws are present in Jamaica and ten other former British Colonies in the Caribbean. A 1994 decision by the Human Rights Committee found that such laws violate rights to privacy and to be free from discrimination in the International Covenant on Civil Rights. Jamaica ratified the ICCPR in 1975.

Scott Long of Human Rights Watch stated that "what stands out about Jamaica is how absolutely, head-in-the-sand unwilling the authorities have been for years to acknowledge or address homophobic violence. Most notably, three successive governments have completely, utterly, publicly refused even to talk about changing the bugger law - which expressly consigns gay people to second-class citizens and paints targets on their backs."

News footage showing Jamaican Government Minister condemning homosexuals in the Jamaican Parliament.