Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer

Harding

Senator Oswald Harding, newly returned to the Upper House of the Jamaican Parliament, wants the country to swiftly resume its adherence to an important United Nations human rights regime.

"It is imperative that the new Bruce Golding-led administration fulfill its commitment to restore Jamaica's adherence to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," Senator Harding, a former Attorney-General, tells The Sunday Gleaner.

This protocol provided another avenue of appeal against their death sentence for some persons slated for execution, but was removed in 1997 by the P.J. Patterson administration, which was frustrated by the length of time it was taking to complete the multi-tiered, complex appeals process.

"I do not believe there was any justification for doing that, and in so doing, we have taken the rights of many of our citizens," Dr. Harding said of the withdrawal.

influenced by Pratt & Morgan decision

That move was significantly influenced by the landmark Pratt & Morgan decision by the United Kingdom-based Privy Council in 1993, which set a five-year time limit for all appeals from death-row inmates in the Commonwealth Caribbean to be heard. Failure to complete the appeals process within the specified time frame now meant that the death sentence would have to be commuted to life imprisonment.

The Government's frustration wa by the subsequent Privy Council decision in the Neville Lewis case, the interpretation of which meant that the appeals process - including considerations by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights - was now longer and made it even unlikely to meet the time limit set in Pratt & Morgan.

Ten years after the withdrawal from the U.N. protocol, Harding, now president of the Senate, remains incensed about the decision and he wants his party - the Jamaica Labour Party - now in office, to restore "the people's right" to appeal to the U.N. body.

"A commitment was made by me and by Mr. Edward Seaga (then Opposition Leader) that we would rejoin. One government can't bind another government so in due course, at the right time, I intend to raise it with the present government," he promised.

Senator A.J. Nicholson, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in the last administration, does not believe, however, that Jamaica is ready to restore the right of appeals to the U.N. body.

"This is just one of several thorny issues that will have to be addressed in our approach to the death penalty, not only in Jamaica but within the Commonwealth Caribbean," he suggested.

agonised over decision

Senator Nicholson said that the previous government "agonised" for a long time over whether Jamaica should have withdrawn from the optional protocol. Having carefully considered the matter, he said, the administration made the decision to withdraw "in an obvious effort to meet the five-year rule laid down by the Privy Council".

Despite the removal of that step in the appeals process, however, the Government continued to be frustrated in its efforts to meet the five-year deadline, and so there has been no execution in Jamaica since 1988.

A comprehensive review of the justice system is currently under way, which is intended, among other things, to make the appeals process more timely and efficient. Some experts have long argued that this is what is needed in order for Jamaica to meet the five-year limit imposed by Pratt & Morgan.

In the meantime, however, Parliament may soon be asked, once again, to vote on whether to abolish the death penalty. This was confirmed last week by Senator Arthur Williams, Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security.

Senator Williams, during a visit to the gallows at the St. Catherine District Prison, said the matter was likely to be put to a conscience vote by all parliamentarians, shortly. It is an option that is strongly favoured by Senator Nicholson.