Jamaica: GA

Jamaica

General Assembly Policy Statement

Good evening, Madame chair/Mr. President, fellow delegates, and distinguished guests. This year Jamaica is affected by following three issues: kidnapping for ransom, immigration and guest worker conflict, and human trafficking.

Jamaica is very concerned with the issue of kidnapping for ransom of high powered or well-to-do individuals as it affects us routinely through gang and other highly organized group violence. Jamaica would appreciate UN assistance to reduce and one-day eliminate this threat.

Jamaica is deeply concerned with the immigration and guest worker conflict. Due to fluctuations in the Jamaican economy, we continue to experience large unemployment numbers causing Jamaican citizens to look elsewhere for work, predominantly in the United States. Several of our young and brightest citizens also attend universities in the United States and in Great Britain, often relocating permanently. It is imperative for the Jamaican economy to have these highly qualified citizens return to Jamaica. The Jamaican government also has to contend with the entrenched British-colonial bias among the Jamaican elite as policies are created to try to stabilize the Jamaican economy.

Human trafficking is a very serious problem in Jamaica. Human trafficking involves an act of recruiting, transporting, transfering, harbouring or receiving a person through a use of force, or other harsh means, for exploitation purposes. We Jamaica believe that in order to reduce this problem the United Nations should assist in expanding the efforts of the National Task Force against Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP) to educate people in the hope of limiting this growing problem.

Thank you.