Senator A.J. Nicholson (centre), Minister of Justice and Attorney General, engages Professor Neville Ying (left), executive director of the Mona School of Business, and Professor Barry Chevannes, from the Centre for Public Safety and Justice at the University of the West Indies, in a discussion at the Caribbean Conference on Dispute Resolution. Mr. Nicholson addressed the opening ceremony at the Half Moon Conference Centre in Montego Bay, St. James, yesterday. - PHOTO BY NAGRA PLUNKETT
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE MINISTRY of Justice will in coming weeks begin a series of public consultations on its newly developed Victims' Charter, aimed at instituting policies and programmes to support wronged individuals.
Justice Minister Senator A.J. Nicholson said yesterday that "the nation's jurisprudence has developed in such a way that it has come to be understood that the victim is left to seek his own remedy for the wrong that he has suffered, after discharging his obligations to the state in the prosecution of a crime."
Senator Nicholson, who is also the Attorney-General, was addressing the opening ceremony of the Third Caribbean Conference on Dispute Resolution at the Half Moon in Montego Bay, St. James.
"Too often, institutional secondary victimisation results in the denial of human rights to persons who fall within vulnerable groups, such as victims of child abuse and sexual offences," he added.
The four-day conference is being held under the theme 'Matching the Process to the Problem: Dispute Resolution Options for the Caribbean', and will host conflict mediators, legislators, social workers, business leaders, the police and human resource personnel in a series of plenary sessions which will explore, among other things, global trends in mediation. The function will also provide a forum for practitioners to share experiences and best practices on the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR).
The Attorney-General explained that the charter would facilitate synergies between various entities such as hospitals, schools and the media, as they interact with victims.
"The rapid changes in the nature and complexity of crimes, the realignment of economic, social and cultural forces in the global space, require continuous review of our systems and our processes of social re-engineering," he continued. "The victim is scarcely mentioned among the dramatis personae, except perhaps as a witness ... no longer is the victim to be left behind."
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
In outlining Jamaica's observance of the United Nations 1985 Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for victims of crime and abuse of power, the Justice Minister said Government has given statutory recognition to the Victim Support Unit (VSU) and enacted legislation to facilitate dispute resolution in criminal matters.
"Legislation is being drafted to provide for enhanced technological aids for victims of crime, who have to testify in criminal proceedings and who are children or others that fall within vulnerable groups," Senator Nicholson said.
