after 16 years of debate inside and outside of Parliament...

after 16 years of debate inside and outside of Parliament, legislation for the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which replaces Chapter III of the Constitution, was approved by Parliament. The adoption brings the Jamaican Constitution in line with the trend in commonwealth countries, represented by the UK Human Rights Act 1998 and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The new chapter provides a more comprehensive and effective protection for the fundamental rights of everyone in Jamaica. The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (Constitutional Amendment) Act 2011 was signed into law by the Governor General and came into force on 7 April. The Charter confirms that the death penalty can be utilized, explicitly overruling in Section 13(8) the decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Pratt and Morgan vs Attorney General of Jamaica. That case had held that holding a person on death row for more than five years was cruel and inhumane treatment; backlash against the case had led Jamaica to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. An attempt by Jamaica to replace the Privy Council jurisdiction with that of the Caribbean Court of Justice was later declared unconstitutional by the Privy Council in Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights Limited and Others [2005]. No death sentences were handed down in 2011. There were seven people on death row at the end of the year.