Jamaica successfully avoided a large COVID-19 outbreak during the initial months of the pandemic. However, since late August 2020, the numbers of confirmed infections have surged, increasing the total number of cases to nearly 8,000 by October 2020. The government announced emergency measures in September, including curfews and limits to the size of public gatherings. […]
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DETENTION CAPACITY
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA
PRISON DATA
POPULATION DATA
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
Does the Country Have Specific Laws that Provide for Migration-Related Detention?
Detention-Related Legislation
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
Immigration-Status-Related Grounds
Non-Immigration-Status-Related Grounds in Immigration Legislation
Criminal Penalties for Immigration-Related Violations
Grounds for Criminal Immigration-Related Incarceration / Maximum Length of Incarceration
Has the Country Decriminalised Immigration-Related Violations?
LENGTH OF DETENTION
Maximum Length of Incarceration for Immigration-Related Criminal Conviction
DETENTION INSTITUTIONS
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
COSTS & OUTSOURCING
COVID-19 DATA
TRANSPARENCY
MONITORING
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOS)
GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES
INTERNATIONAL DETENTION MONITORING
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
ICRMW, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
2008
2008
CTOCSP, Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
2003
2003
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2003
2003
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 12/19
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on Migrant Workers
44. The Committee recommends the State party: (a) Adopt measures, including legislative measures, to phase out, and ultimately put an end to, immigration detention; and enact a presumption in law against detention and therefore in favour of freedom; (b) Immediately cease migration detention of children, whether unaccompanied, separated from their parents, or together with their families, and of other vulnerable groups of migrant workers and members of their families as well as asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons; c) Ensure that: (i) In all other cases, the detention of migrants is an exceptional measure of last resort, pursuing a legitimate end, permitted by law, and that it is necessary and proportionate, and applied for the shortest possible period of time; (ii) The grounds for detention are specified in each case, with specific reasons why alternative measures cannot be implemented; (iv) In line with its human rights obligations, alternative measures to detention are considered and made use of before imposing detention measures. The
Committee recognizes alternatives to detention as being all community-based care measures or non-custodial accommodation solutions – in law, policy or practice – that are less restrictive than detention and which must be considered in the context of lawful detention decision procedures to ensure that detention is necessary and proportionate in all cases, with the aim of respecting the human rights and avoiding the arbitrary detention of migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons; (d) Ensure that alternative measures to detention are applied to asylum seekers and refugees, and in all cases of voluntary return, and that migrant workers and members of their families are informed of their rights and about procedures in the detention context in a language they understand; (e) Strictly separate detention regimes from “voluntary” placement in shelters, including in statutory law, and provide for State-run or community-run shelters, which are physically separated from an immigration detention centre and are not situated on the same premises; (45) (a) Ensure that migrants are detained only in facilities officially designated
for this purpose;
2025
2025
2025
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Situation of non-citizens, including migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons
25...While noting the information provided by the delegation of the State party that the Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizens) Act and the Aliens Act are currently under review, the Committee shares the concerns expressed by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families10 that these acts, and the Deportation (Commonwealth Citizens) Act, criminalize irregular immigration
(art. 5).
26...The Committee recommends that the State party adopt all measures necessary to decriminalize irregular immigration, including by repealing or amending the Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizens) Act, the Aliens Act, and the Deportation (Commonwealth Citizens) Act. The Committee draws the State party’s attention to the recommendation made on this matter by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families in 2017.11
2022
2022
2022
Committee on Migrant Workers
§ 37. The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that its national laws, policies and practices adequately respect the right to liberty and the prohibition of arbitrary detention of migrant workers and members of their families, and in particular that it:
(a) Amend the Aliens Act to include, as a priority response to irregular migration, alternatives to detention for migration-related administrative infractions and measures to ensure that detention is used only as an exceptional measure of last resort, in line with the Committee’s general comment No. 2 (2013) on the rights of migrant workers in an irregular situation and members of their families;
(b) Ensure due process in all detention procedures within the State party’s jurisdiction, including in international waters;
(c) Ensure that family members and children are not detained on the basis of their immigration status or, in the case of children, their parents’ status and adopt alternatives to detention that allow children to remain with family members and/or guardians;
(d) Decriminalize irregular migration and ensure that migrant workers and members of their families have access to legal aid, effective remedies, justice and consular services, and that the guarantees enshrined in the Convention are upheld, in full compliance with articles 16 and 17 of the Convention;
(e) Provide information on the number of migrant workers arrested, detained and expelled for immigration-related infractions, the reasons for their detention and expulsion and their detention conditions, including the length of detention.
2017
2017
2017
> UN Special Procedures
> UN Universal Periodic Review
REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS
Regional Legal Instruments
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
HEALTH IMPACTS
COVID-19
Country Updates
Jamaica successfully avoided a large COVID-19 outbreak during the initial months of the pandemic. However, since late August 2020, the numbers of confirmed infections have surged, increasing the total number of cases to nearly 8,000 by October 2020. The government announced emergency measures in September, including curfews and limits to the size of public gatherings.
There does not appear to have been any particular measures taken with respect to migrants or asylum seekers in Jamaica. Although Jamaica is a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, it does not have corresponding asylum legislation and there are no official mechanisms in place to assist in the identification of asylum seekers. In 2019, Jamaica only received 5 applications for international protection, according to UNHCR. And although the refugee agency reported that there were no refugees in Jamaica that year, there were 121 displaced Venezuelans in the country. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) reported that in 2019, there were 23,468 international migrants in Jamaica.
The government has been slow to implement protective measures in prisons. As of 31 August, the government was still refusing to release low-risk detainees in high-density prisons to curb the virus’ spread. In addition, authorities do not make it compulsory for people within penal institutions to wear face masks. The director of the prisoner rights group “Stand Up For Jamaica” expressed concern that scores of inmates may be vulnerable to the spread of the virus, citing the country’s long-standing problem of overcrowding in prisons. Gullotta has called for the government to release low-risk prisoners, especially juvenile offenders who have not seen their relatives in months and are prone to psychological problems. Gullotta said that her “major concern was, in a place like prisons, where people are packed up and in a permanently overcrowded environment, the fact that people can enter means a huge risk for all of them.”
The government’s decision to not impose the wearing of face masks within penal institutions was defended by Minister Matthew Samuda who said that “mask wearing is only imposed on all those who work in the facilities because it’s the people who work within the facilities who could have brought it in.” Yet, on 31 August, four detainees tested positive at the Horizon penitentiary in Kingston. The detainees were placed in isolation and the facility suspended the admission of any new detainees. Two other detainees then tested positive for the virus on 22 September at the Tower Street prison, another Kingston prison.
Although the GDP has been unable to find any information about protections provided to immigration detainees in Jamaica, there are long-standing concerns that the country does not provide appropriate conditions of detention for people in immigration procedures. In 2017, the UN Committee on Migrant workers issued a series of recommendations in its “concluding observations” during the periodic review of Jamaica. The committee stated: “The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that its national laws, policies and practices adequately respect the right to liberty and the prohibition of arbitrary detention of migrant workers and members of their families, and in particular that it: (a) Amend the Aliens Act to include, as a priority response to irregular migration, alternatives to detention for migration-related administrative infractions and measures to ensure that detention is used only as an exceptional measure of last resort, in line with the Committee’s general comment No. 2 (2013) on the rights of migrant workers in an irregular situation and members of their families; (b) Ensure due process in all detention procedures within the State party’s jurisdiction, including in international waters; (c) Ensure that family members and children are not detained on the basis of their immigration status or, in the case of children, their parents’ status and adopt alternatives to detention that allow children to remain with family members and/or guardians; (d) Decriminalize irregular migration and ensure that migrant workers and members of their families have access to legal aid, effective remedies, justice and consular services, and that the guarantees enshrined in the Convention are upheld, in full compliance with articles 16 and 17 of the Convention; (e) Provide information on the number of migrant workers arrested, detained and expelled for immigration-related infractions, the reasons for their detention and expulsion and their detention conditions, including the length of detention.”
Government Agencies
- Passport, Immigration & Citizenship Agency (PICA)
- info@pica.gov.jm
- +1 754 7422
International Organisations
- IOM Jamaica
- UNHCR Jamaica
NGOs, NHRIs, and Research Institutions
- Ombudsman
- (876)922-8653
- Contact through Facebook https://www.facebook.com/JAPoliticalOmbudsman/
- Migration Policy Institute-Jamaica
Media
- Jamaica Observer
