News On The Go

Gov't committed to protecting human rights

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, says the Government remains committed to protecting the human rights of Jamaican citizens.

"Jamaica's commitment to human rights promotion and protection has not waned. Currently, we are State party to seven of the nine core international human rights treaties," she said.

Her remarks came in a speech read by permanent secretary in the ministry, Ambassador Marcia Gilbert-Roberts, at the 'Art for Human Rights' event in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, held at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts on Monday.

Commonwealth judges assist with training

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes says that Commonwealth judges are helping in the development of the Caribbean courts through facilitating the training of regional judiciaries.

Speaking at the launch of the Judicial Conduct and Ethics 'Train the Trainer' workshop, held recently at the University of the West Indies Regional Headquarters, the Sykes said that the training not only focused on judicial ethics, but other areas of the justice system.

He noted that over the years, judges have been attending training in Halifax, Canada, to further their competence and skills in judicial education.

"All of this is consistent with the idea that judges should be thoroughly equipped with the competence to conceptualise, plan and deliver training programmes for other judges to improve the judicial service to the people of the region," Sykes said.

He added that the measurable outcome of the training would be higher levels of adjudication within the justice system, "not just in terms of the content, whether it is written or oral, but high quality in terms of the manner the adjudication is done".

Ministers mandated to hold regular board meetings

Prime Minister Andrew Holness says Cabinet ministers are now required to convene regular meetings with the board chairs and members of public bodies under their portfolios as part of measures to strengthen the entities' governance and accountability frameworks.

The decision comes in the wake of the Auditor General's report into the operations of state refinery, Petrojam, which revealed, among other things, a breakdown in the entity's oversight process.

Holness said that ministers must now hold quarterly meetings to facilitate review of the minutes and activities of boards for the specified period, and plan for the ensuing quarter.

HAJ to ramp up land-titling programme in 2019

The Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) will be ramping up its land-titling effort come 2019.

"The drive now is to get more titles in the hands of Jamaicans," said senior public relations and marketing manager, Richard Jones.

"The Government is making a big push to have more Jamaican land title owners, so we spend a lot of time and effort on the titling programme. There are many parcels of lands that are in the hands of persons, some of these lots are informally owned, and we plan to fix this," he said.

Jones noted that since 2010, the Government, through the HAJ, has disbursed more than 8,000 land titles.

Health Ministry launches National Cancer Registry

The Ministry of Health on Tuesday launched the National Cancer Registry, an important step in the fight to beat non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and, in particular, cancer.

"This registry, frankly speaking, could mean the difference between life and death for Jamaicans diagnosed with cancer and/or who are at risk of the disease, certainly in the years to come," noted Minister of Health, Dr Christopher Tufton, at the launch that was hosted at Eden Gardens Wellness Resort and Spa in St Andrew.

In the case of Jamaica, the registry - a population-based cancer registry that covers the entire island - will actively collect information on all new cancer cases, including data on patient demographics and cancer type in a defined population.

The main sources of data include laboratory reports, medical records and death certificates. These data are collected and collated using standardised forms and procedures, and then entered into an information system for storage, management and analysis.