The opposition People’s National Party, PNP, says the government’s demolition of houses at Bernard Lodge in St Catherine on Thursday is a blatant disregard for the tenets of the UN Convention on Human Rights and supporting International Conventions to which Jamaica is a party.
The opposition further notes that forced evictions constitute gross violations of a range of internationally recognised human rights.
The PNP says it is the obligation of a government to ensure that a proper framework is in place to facilitate the ease of access to and ownership of property.
The PNP, in a statement issued by the Chairman of the party’s Human Rights Commission, Isat Buchanan, says notwithstanding the various assertions as to how the residents obtained property, the very fact that their actions were open, transparent and in the public view requires a different and humane approach by the Government.
Mr. Buchanan says the demolition of homes especially, without the service of adequate notice and an opportunity to be heard is especially egregious as it was led by the government.
He adds that the forced eviction and removal of persons, have only served to separate and alienate individuals from their families, homes and communities.
The Human Rights Commission of the PNP is calling on the prime minister, who is also the minister with responsibility for land and housing, to end the demolition and talk to the residents with the view to returning the lost property.