THE EDITOR, Sir:IN RESPONSE to Christopher McCatty's letter in The Gleaner of Tuesday 10/11/04, stating that JFJ is on a "narrow track", and "...only looking out for 0.1 per cent or less of the total population..." I apologise that Jamaicans For Justice's (JFJ) function was not listed in its entirety. There are many other areas in which JFJ is active, most of which do not receive media exposure; viz. our work with the Child Care and Protection Act, the Access To Information Act, the Charter of Rights, the Caribbean Council of Justice (CCJ) issues, the Anti-Terrorism Bill, the Anti-Corruption Act; community workshops on rights and responsibilities, seminars with the police on effective implementation of community policing and aspects of human rights training etc.
JFJ's Secretariat in Grants Pen handles approximately 15 to 30 requests every month on matters of property issues, labour and domestic disputes, professional negligence, as well as beatings, shootings, detentions and more. We also have upward of 30 cases currently being followed in Coroner's Court.
It is JFJ's policy to respond to appeals, not to actively seek out individual cases. There are surprisingly few active Members in JFJ who are responsible for much of what the organisation has accomplished; and there are many other issues of social and economic justice that JFJ would like to tackle, had we volunteers willing to assist instead of sideline critics who are not fully cognisant of the workings of the JFJ.
I invite the public to visit our website at jamaicansforjustice.org, or our Secretariat at 1 Grants Pen Road to see our library and document centre, and get a better idea of the scope of Jamaicans For Justice.
I am, etc.,
JEANNE CROSKERY
Director JFJ
Kingston 8
