A report from Amnesty International has slammed the Jamaican government for failing to protect inner-city residents trapped by violence between armed criminal gangs and police.
The organization's researcher for Jamaica says criminal gangs make up a small proportion of the community population, but their actions are devastating.
"They keep thousands of people living in constant fear and provide an excuse for government officials to label all community members as criminals," said Fernanda Doz Costa.
"We call upon the Jamaican authorities to urgently put in measures to tackle the underlying causes of public security and human rights crisis, which includes the reduction of the homicide rate in inner-city communities, the introduction of human rights-based policing and the reform of the judicial system to improve access to justice," Doz Costa said.
The report details incidents of police and gang activities that endanger inner-city residents and notes that, "Poor inner-city Jamaicans are being held hostage in an endless confrontation between criminal gangs, police officers who kill with impunity and authorities who are failing to protect their human rights."
Jamaica, with a population of 2.8 million, has one of the highest rates of violence and police killings in the world. There were more than 1,550 murders last year; police killed 272 citizens.
Amnesty said most of the citizens killed by police lived in deprived communities where unemployment, education services, access to health care, poor sanitation and limited supplies of drinking water are prevalent.
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