The Opposition says it is deeply concerned that the Government has advised the Governor-General to declare a State of Emergency (SOE) in seven police divisions, even though the country is still waiting to hear the outcome of the Government’s appeal against the Court’s ruling in Everton Douglas et al vs. the Ministry of National Security, the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney-General.
In its ruling on the last SOE declaration, the Supreme Court clearly stated that the situation which led to the detention of the objector did not qualify as an emergency or satisfy the requirements of sections 20 (2) and 20 (5) of the Constitution.
The Opposition noted that the Court made it clear that, in its view, the Government had failed to satisfy the requirements for calling a public emergency. The Court, therefore, also concluded that the claimant’s constitutional rights, and the constitution itself, had been breached by the current detention and executive detention system.
As this case demonstrated, the Constitution sets a high bar for calling a State of Emergency. A State of Emergency is an extreme measure, and it should never be used lightly. It should only be used when all the other provisions for the maintenance of law and order are clearly inadequate to the task.
The Opposition says it strongly believes that there are already adequate provisions in ordinary legislation to deal with Jamaica’s problems with crime. There are existing measures that allow the army to be mobilized to support the police in the high-violence areas and to use tools such as curfews and cordon-and-search operations.
The Opposition noted that State of Emergency allows people to be detained on a long-term basis without charge. This is not allowed in ordinary policing, and it is potentially very dangerous to allow detention without charge to become part of standard policing. It would be too easy for this measure to be abused to the point where it started to undermine civil liberties and democracy in Jamaica.
The Opposition believes that the Government has resorted to this desperate measure in order to cover up their failure to bring down the level of crime, and that the Prime Minister is trying to spread the blame for his dismal failure to make Jamaica safe and secure.
The Parliamentary Group of the Opposition added that they will meet as soon as possible with the Party’s Executive Committee to prepare a response for the Parliamentary debate on a resolution to extend the SOE. We anticipate a resolution will be tabled in Parliament shortly, as the SOE can only continue for 14 days without an extension supported by both Houses of Parliament.
