We write on behalf of Human Rights Watch to thank you for your response to our letter of February 27, 2008, expressing our concern regarding a violent homophobic attack on a group of men in Mandeville in January 2008 and the disappearance of one of the victims of the attack.
We are grateful that you acknowledge the seriousness of homophobic violence and that you acknowledge the need for a prompt, thorough investigation of the January attack in Mandeville, with a view to prosecution of the perpetrators of this attack.
We hope that you will express your condemnation of homophobic violence publicly. We also hope that your response to such violence will begin a dialogue with human rights groups working to end homophobic violence and abuse in Jamaica and strengthen efforts to protect all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Jamaicans against further such violence and abuse.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Schleifer
Advocate
HIV/AIDS & Human Rights Program
Scott Long
Director
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Rights Program
Cc: Hon. Dorothy Lightbourne, Minister of Justice
R. Admiral Hardley Lewin, Commissioner of Police
Mark Shields, Deputy Commissioner of Police
Raymond Wolfe, Permanent Representative to the United Nations
