International Human Rights Day

Today is International Human Rights Day , a worthy cause to celebrate, indeed. There is still much work to be done, of course, and of late activists seem to be focusing a lot on slavery, migrants and women’s rights. More specific to Jamaica, I would say that education about basic human rights is the most pressing issue. In many inner-city communities, the concept of human rights is a foreign one, literally. A couple of years ago, working with Youth Opportunities Unlimited, we embarked on a campaign in Rockfort, in which people walked around and handed out pamphlets to this effect. For example, it informed readers that they have a right not to be searched by the police, and that they were not required to let them into their homes without a warrant. It was called “Know Yuh Rights”. (Here is Jamaicans For Justice on the issue, and I posted