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Jamaica, a tropical island in the heart of the Caribbean, has a diverse and unique geography. Jamaica is a 146 mile long island with 4411 square miles of lush island. More than half of Jamaica is mountains above 1000 feet high, making it an island with a very rough terrain. While the mountains are mostly on the interior, the coastlines are flat beaches that stretch for as long as the eye can see. The northwest is pitted landscape due to the many sinkholes that settled on the limestone surface. There are over 120 rivers that flow from the interior to the coast.
Jamaica is believed to have been formed from volcanoes billions of years ago. Originally Jamaica was a rough rugged land, but eventually the climate and soil changed to provide conditions very suitable for the lush flora that can be seen today. There is an average of 77 inches of rain, mostly in October and May. This helps to explain the many plant forms that thrive there. The average temperature is 80 degrees with a temperature below 50 degrees being considered rigid. Currently, Jamaica is an independent country.
Its main cash crop is Ganja (marijuana) and its major industry is bauxite mining. It is a generally poor country and the people rely very much on tourism to bring in desirable U. S. dollars. Jamaican marijuana is the major supplier to the U. S, with 70 % of Jamaican marijuana going to the U.
S. This is probably due to the closeness of Jamaica to the U. S, as well as non-enforcement of the law sin Jamaica concerning marijuana production and distribution. Jamaica has several major religions.
The religion most commonly associated with Jamaica is Rastafarianism. Rastafarians believe that Haile Salassie, the former leader of Ethiopia, is their leader. Rastafraian generally are free spirited and believe in the spiritual use of marijuana. They speak with a specific accent known as patois and claim not to eat pork or salt. The first people to come to Jamaica were people from Venezuela, known as the Arawaks, in 650 AD. They were then joined by the Caribs, who came from Guiana who were cannibalistic and fierce fighters causing fighting to arise between the two groups.
Columbus came to Jamaica in 1494 and named the island Jamaica because he heard the natives call it Xaymaca. He brought smallpox and other horrible diseases to which the islanders had no antibodies. Most of them died out soon after Columbus arrived and those that did not were tortured and terrorized by Columbus and his sailors. In about 1510 there was an influx of Spanish Europeans. With many of the natives dead, , the Spanish began importing Africans to replace them.
In 1655, after being outgunned by the British fleet, the Spanish gave Jamaica to England. At which point the English turned the island into one vast sugar plantation and became very rich. When the vanquished Spanish left in a hurry for neighboring islands, their slaves escaped to a desolate hilly area in western Jamaica. There they formed independent groups known as Maroons. Fighting from their fortresses, the Maroons eventually defeated the English and were granted self-government along with the lands they inhabited. In 1838, when slaves were given their freedom, most of them settled down in the hills, cultivated small plots of land, and founded a peasantry that is today still regarded as the backbone of Jamaica.
Today the Maroons are to a great degree self-governing, but they also share the rights and responsibilities of Jamaican citizenship. On September 18, 1962 Jamaica entered the United Nations as a member. Despite limitations of size and resources, Jamaica has played an outstanding role in the Untied Nation s system, helping to focus international attention on such significant matters as human rights, decolonization, economic cooperation and indebtedness, and women s issues. Barely a year after becoming a member of the Untied Nations, Jamaica became highly visible when at the 1963 General Assembly, Senator high Shearer proposed that 1968 be designated the International Year for Human Rights to mark the Twentieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Jamaica wanted the year to be an event which would highlight and bring new attention to the promise made in the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to be a target towards which the UN and is Member States would work with renewed public commitment in their efforts to give effect to the principles of that Universal Declaration. In June 1967, the UN General Assembly also accepted Jamaica s proposal for an international conference to review progress in the field of human rights.
The committee established to organize the programme of activities for the International year for Human Rights was chaired by Jamaica s then Permanent Representative to the UN. The proclamation of Teheran was adopted on May 13, 1968 by the International Conference of Human Rights which expressed the belief that the enjoyment of economic and social rights is inherently linked with any meaningful enjoyment of civil and political rights and that there is a profound interconnection between the realization of human rights and economic development. In September of 1989, Jamaica was selected as one of the Group of Fifteen developing countries to meet at Summit level. The primary purpose of the Group of Fifteen is to perform a catalytic role in the promotion of the South-South cooperation among themselves and other developing countries. Jamaica is the smallest member of the Group of Fifteen, which is a clear reflection of our role and influence in international affairs demonstrating that size is not a limitation where there are clear policies, outstanding representation and dedication to the organization. Jamaica has major stance on economic and social issues including the rights of women, the rights of children, education, and health.
The Charter of the Untied Nations is the first international instrument to mention equal rights of men and women in specific terms, and, from its establishment in 1946, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women embarked on the task of defining and then implementing the principles of nondiscrimination and equality for women. However, it was not until 1975, International Women s Year, that the international community sought to give a more sincere recognition to the need to bring women more fully into the mainstream of economic, political and social life, contributing as vital elements tot he process of development and benefiting equally from that process. Jamaica has actively participate din the work of the General Assembly and other international forums to promote women s advancement, and was involved in the establishment of the United nations Voluntary Fund for the United Nations Decade for Women and its successor organization, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), from which Jamaica has befitted. The Government of Jamaica signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women on July 17, 1980 and ratified it on October 19, 1984. Jamaican women have distinguished themselves in the work of the United Nations system.
Women have suffered most from the ravages of poverty in Jamaica. Jamaica states that women must be given their rightful place in the social, economic and political order. If the goals of equality, development and peace are to be achieved, women must be empowered at the highest levels of decision-making. The call is for women s paid and unpaid work to be represented in national statistics and made visible, recognized, paid and valued, and for education and skill-training for women to encompass a broader range and higher standards to afford them entry into better paying areas of employment as well as to decision-making.
In countries like Jamaica, the present conditions of structural adjustment programmes are reversing the gains that were struggled to make in women s legal rights, access to education, health and participation in decision-making. It is Jamaica s goal to ensure that women are guaranteed equality in their society and participate fully in all aspects of the national life. Jamaica intends to apply the same commitment to the international movement for the advancement of women Ten years after the Convention on the Rights of the Child children are being killed, maimed, used as combatants and uprooted from home and community in conditions of extreme deprivation. Jamaica strongly believes that this issue must remain priority for the international community and requires most effective responses. Jamaica also strongly believe that there are several identifiable steps to be taken in the pre and post-conflict phases and during conflicts themselves, in order to address the plight of children in an integrated and comprehensive manner.
The promotion of a culture of adherence to humanitarian norms and standards is of critical importance, especially in light of the increased violations of international humanitarian law in conflict situations. A vital component in any effective strategy must involve clear efforts by States to end current levels of impunity by prosecuting those who deliberately violate the rights of children. Children have a right to peace and a right to grow and develop in a safe and secure environment. The right of every child to protection as part of the family, society and the state and the right of every child aged between six and fifteen to free tuition in a public educational institution at the primary level, have been included in a new Charter of Rights being enacted by Jamaica. Jamaica is also appalled at the continued existence of large numbers of children in the global labor force. Child labor is most often a result of poverty and that children work because they need to, so that if the work is removed, it must be substituted by education, food, and shelter which would then obviate the need for children to work.
This recognition is important because it demonstrates the willingness of the United Nations to deal with the issue in a mature and realistic manner. Unlike some of their adult counterparts, child laborers tend not to be able to utilize their jobs as stepping-stones to a better life. The monotonous jobs keep children out of school and therefore render them functionally illiterate. The Jamaican Government is attempting to do all in its power to reduce the number of child laborers in their own society. For the past thirty years, Latin America has made spectacular progress in education, raising coverage of primary, secondary and university education and their resources dedicated to this area. However, these achievements are clearly not enough, and the region is at a disadvantage when it comes to participating in the knowledge-driven economy prevailing in the globalized world.
Education plays a central role in reduction poverty, promoting the exercise of citizenship, protecting the most vulnerable social groups and achieving greater equity in access to welfare opportunities. The Caribbean faces the highest rate of HIV infection outside of sub-Saharan Africa. The spread of the disease has been fueled by tourism, migration between islands, poverty, and religious and cultural resistance tot he use of condoms and sex education. Plans for expansion of peer education interventions are under way in Jamaica. Integration of STDs and AIDS education into normal school curricula is also being provided.
The disease is spread largely by heterosexual contact and has become the leading cause of death for men and women aged 15 to 44. The Jamaica AIDS Support group (JAS) carries out public education programmes and helps employees to formulate policies for workers who may have HIV/AIDS and offers in-house counseling to persons with AIDS as well as their families. Another challenge in Jamaica concerning AIDS is the lack of financial means to treat the disease and that the drugs that could control the disease are beyond the means of may Jamaicans. At present there are 2, 430 reported cases of AIDS in Jamaica.
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Research essay sample on Universal Declaration Of Human Rights Economic And Social
