By Robert Hart, Staff ReporterTHE OPPOSITION Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) conceded yesterday that the Government has made significant amendments to the controversial Terrorism Prevention Bill, but is insisting that more changes are required.
"We recognise that the Government has accepted that what it had presented in the original Bill was unjust, draconian and offensive," JLP chairman, Senator Bruce Golding, said during a press conference at the party's Belmont Road headquarters in New Kingston.
Senator Golding, who made one of four presentations on issues related to the national interest, also noted that the Government had "signalled a willingness to modify its position" in proposing the amendments during the first sitting of the joint select committee examining the Bill last Thursday.
K.D. Knight, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and committee chair, then revealed a host of amendments proposed by the Government.
The amendments put forward by Mr. Knight included key changes such as the removal of the death penalty and the restriction of the Director of Public Prosecution's (DPP) powers to advise on which entities can be labelled 'terrorist'.
The Bill now provides that the DPP advise only on entities already listed by the United Nations Security Council.
But, Senator Golding said the JLP was still unhappy with the Bill in its current form. "In our view (the amendments) don't go far enough," he said. "They don't address some of the pernicious provisions in the Bill which will have to be tackled in the select committee," the JLP chairman added.
DISTINGUISHING CRIME AND TERRORISM
Among the areas still in contention, according to Mr. Golding, is the absence of any distinction between international terrorism and domestic criminal activity.
"It is a distinction which was clearly envisaged by the various conventions adopted by the United Nations, around which Resolution 1373 was phrased," he said. Resolution 1373 speaks to the obligation of states to implement anti-terrorism legislation.
He further claimed that there is an attempt being made in the legislation to establish new standards of criminal liability.
The JLP's continuing stance against the Bill comes on the heels of protests from the Civil Society Partnership against the Terrorism Prevention Act, which on the weekend argued that "insufficient time is being allowed for serious consideration of the effects of the new amendments."
The Partnership, consisting of the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs, Jamaicans For Justice, and Families Against State Terrorism among other groups, said it welcomed the Government's proposal of the amendments, but pointed out that none of the organisations which made submissions had previously been informed of or invited to the first sitting of the committee.
"In addition, the groups are now being expected to begin their oral presentations, (just) six days after the publication of the amendments," the Partnership said in a joint statement.
The next committee sitting takes place on Wednesday.
