Jamaica should repeal homophobic laws, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights rules

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has found the Jamaican government responsible for violating multiple rights of a gay man and a lesbian woman and urges an immediate repeal of the country’s homophobic laws.

Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) congratulates the Jamaican claimants in the case and the entire lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the country for this major victory, as well as our partners at the Human Dignity Trust (HDT), which brought the case before the Commission in 2011.

The Commission made the decision on 28 September 2019, but it remained strictly confidential under their orders until 17 February 2021. HDT has said it is a crucial and precedent setting legal victory: “As the first-ever decision of the Commission to find that laws criminalizing LGBT people violate international law, this is now the landmark LGBT human rights case for the entire Caribbean region.”

PGA member Dr. Angela Brown-Buke, Member of Parliament from Jamaica, has stated:

The ruling is an important one in the ongoing discussion in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. It provides an opportunity for us to discuss the role of government in protecting all its people. I remain committed to improving our laws for the benefit of all our citizens.
 

The two Jamaican claimants, Gareth Henry and Simone Edwards, had argued that the laws against “buggery” and gross indecency – originally imposed by the British colonial administration – violate their rights and legitimize violence towards LGBT Jamaicans. Both were forced to flee Jamaica after violent attacks.

In its decision, the Commission said that Jamaica is responsible for the violation of multiple rights of the claimants enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights, including the rights to humane treatment, equal protection before the law, privacy and freedom of movement and residence.

The Commission urges the Jamaican government to repeal the sections of the Offences Against the Persons Act that criminalize consensual sexual conduct between men and also recommended the government enact anti-discrimination laws to protect LGBT people.

This landmark decision is a major step forward in ensuring the respect of the human rights of LGBT people in Jamaica and it also provides momentum for progress in the whole Caribbean region, where nine countries still have colonial-era laws criminalizing same-sex intimacy.

PGA will continue its sensitization work with members of parliament about their role in guaranteeing equality and inclusion of LGBT people, and will continue to encourage legislative action in accordance with regional and international human rights commitments.