Human Rights

Discussing the importance of the new Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedom to businesses in Jamaica.

ID#: 04033272

Course Code: MGMT 6118- Legal Environment of Business

Lecturer: Loreen Walker

Date Submitted: October 25, 2012

The Jamaican Government and the society have over the years seen several amendments made to The Constitution, 1962; however, what has been marked as a significant amendment to the “old constitution” is the new Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.

After several years of deliberations and debates, the amendment of Chapter 3 of the Constitution was finalized and gazette in April 2011 and duly praised as a move in a fresh and progressive direction for Human Rights and the development of Jamaica and its plan for Vision 2030[1]. The amendment identified as The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedom (Constitutional Amendment) Act 2011, includes previous rights and freedom of the old chapter 3, however, stated by Mukulu .K Matondo (2011), he explains that ‘while retaining the foregoing rights, the progressive nature of this chapter is to be found in the fact that it recognizes new rights and when compared with its equivalent in other liberal states, it goes even further by recognizing socio-economic rights’.

For the purpose of the paper the focus will be on the importance of the existing and new rights and freedom of persons and the influence it has on businesses in Jamaica. This is in relation to the rights to freedom from discrimination on the ground of individuals that are infected with the HIV/AIDS virus, gender inequality among the females of society in relations to employment and finally, persons with disability[2].

Discrimination in the workplace takes many forms and affects at many levels. The most noticeable is the current campaign by the Jamaican government, and the rights of individuals whom are HIV infected and who are currently employed or actively seeking employment. The World Bank...