Jamaica: Information on attacks on policemen and former policemen, particularly undercover detectives, and on the response of state authorities to such attacks, 1990 to the present

Reports on violence in Jamaica affecting the country's police forces can be found in Responses to Information Requests JAM17233.E of 30 May 1994 and JAM17595.E of 20 June 1994 and their attachments, available at your Regional Documentation Centres. In addition to that information, the only reference to the killing of a policeman and the government response to it found among the sources consulted by the DIRB is contained in Country Reports 1994. The document states that a lieutenant and a lance corporal of the Jamaica Defence Forces killed a police constable who was acting as a parliamentary candidate's bodyguard on 27 March 1994. The report states that the authorities brought charges against the attackers, and a trial on the killing was postponed until 1995, adding that the police "Office of Internal Affairs continues to take disciplinary action against other abusive officers" (1995, 440).

Information on protection measures available to undercover and other policemen or former policemen could not be found among the public sources consulted by the DIRB.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Reference

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994. 1995. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

Additional Sources Consulted

Bulletin of the International Commission of Jurists [Geneva]. Monthly.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly. U.S. Department of State. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Current History [Philadelphia]. Monthly.

Documentation-Réfugiés [Paris]. Weekly.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Reports. Daily.

Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America (ICCHRLA). Yearly. Annual Reports: General Concerns and Brief Country Reports.

Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs [Miami]. Quarterly.

Keesing's Record of World Events. Yearly. Edited by Roger East. London: Longman.

Latinamerica Press [Lima]. Weekly.

Latin American Regional Reports: Central America & the Caribbean [London]. Monthly.

NACLA Report on the Americas. Monthly.

News From Human Rights Watch/Americas [New York]. Monthly.

Problèmes d'Amérique latine. Quarterly.

Material from the Indexed Media Review (IMR) or country files containing articles and reports from diverse sources (primarily dailies and periodicals) from the Weekly Media Review.

Newspapers and periodicals pertaining to the appropriate region.

On-line searches of news articles.

Note on oral sources:

Oral sources are usually contacted when documentary sources have been exhausted. However, oral sources must agree to be quoted in a publicly available Response to Information Request. If they refuse, the Response will read "no information currently available." Contacting oral sources is also subject to time constraints; for example, there are periods of the year when academics are unavailable.

Note on contacting foreign diplomatic representatives in Canada:

Embassies and high commissions are not usually called for security-related questions such as location of military bases or the functioning of secret services. Ability to obtain information from diplomatic representatives depends on availability of information and cooperation from individual countries.

Note:

This list is not exhaustive. Country-specific books available in the Resource Centre are not included.