LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The constitution provides for freedom of thought and religion, including the freedom to change one’s religion or belief, either alone or in community with others, both in public and in private, and to manifest and propagate one’s religion or belief in worship. It prohibits discrimination based on belief. The constitution provides that rights and freedoms are protected to the extent they do not “prejudice the rights and freedoms of others.”

A colonial-era law criminalizing Obeah and Myalism remains in effect. Potential punishment for practicing Obeah and Myalism includes imprisonment of up to 12 months. The government, however, did not in practice enforce this law.

Registration with the government is not mandatory for religious groups, but groups, including churches or congregations, need to incorporate to gain benefits, including the ability to hold land, enter into legal disputes as organizations, and allow their clergy to visit prisoners. Groups seeking incorporated status are required to apply to the Companies Office of Jamaica (Companies Office), an executive agency. The application comprises a standard form and a fee of 24,500 Jamaican dollars ($160). Nongovernmental organizations register through the same form and fee structure. Groups incorporated through this process must subsequently submit annual reports and financial statements to the Companies Office.

Alternatively, religious groups may petition parliament to be incorporated by parliamentary act. Such groups receive similar benefits to those incorporating through the Companies Office, but parliament does not require annual reports or regulate the organizations it incorporates.

Regardless of incorporation status, religious groups seeking tax-exempt status must register as charities. To be considered a charity, an organization must apply either to the Department of Co-operatives and Friendly Societies, within the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, or to the Companies Office of Jamaica. Once registered, groups also submit their registration to the Jamaica Customs Agency within the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and apply to Tax Administration Jamaica to be considered for tax-free status.

The constitution states religious groups have the right to provide religious instruction to members of their communities.

The law requires school administrators to adhere to several practices regarding the teaching of religion. No individual may be required to participate in religious observances contrary to his or her beliefs. The public school curriculum includes nondenominational religious education, which focuses on the historical role of religion in society and philosophical thought and includes group visits to Christian, Jewish, Islamic, and Hindu houses of worship. Students may not opt out of religious education, but collective religious worship during school hours is optional. The law permits homeschooling.

Churches operated several private and public schools; the public schools receive funding from the government and are subject to the Education Act. Regulations mandate that religious schools receiving public funding must admit students of all faiths and adhere to the ministry’s standards. Religious schools are not subject to any special restrictions; they do not receive special treatment from the government based on their religious or denominational affiliation. Most religious schools are affiliated with Catholic or Protestant churches. The Islamic Council of Jamaica operates several schools.

Foreign religious workers, regardless of affiliation, who visit the country to work with a religious organization, must obtain a visa and a work permit from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

The country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

GOVERNMENT PRACTICES

Civil proceedings initiated by the family of Nzinga King, a 19-year-old Rastafarian student who was arrested by police in 2021 and had her locs cut while in custody, continued at year’s end.

Rastafarians continued to report discrimination at some workplaces and against their children at schools, mostly in rural areas. A couple continued their appeal of a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that a primary school was justified in barring their child from attending unless she cut her locs, based on her lack of self-declaration as a Rastafarian. Other Rastafarians also reported discrimination from school administrators based on their hairstyle.

To address the continued discrimination based on students’ hairstyles and grooming practices, the government announced the publication of a dress and grooming policy in 2023. The government stated that Rastafarian students, especially boys, were often forced to cover their locs and it was time to end discrimination against Rastafarians by respecting their religious beliefs and practices. Daily newspaper The Gleaner reported in September that Rastafarian Elder Lewis Brown hailed the decision and also called on workplaces to narrow the gap between mainstream culture and Rastafarians by allowing them to freely wear their locs.

The Jamaica Defense Force (JDF) generally continued to refuse acceptance of Rastafarians into its ranks. The JDF previously said it did not discriminate based on religion or denomination, but it stated that the force’s strict codes of conduct regarding hair length and the prohibition of marijuana use among its members were the obstacles to Rastafarian participation in the force.

Most religious leaders remained publicly opposed to abortion, while several legislators spoke out in favor of its legalization. In June, the Gleaner reported that Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte told parliament that the government did not intend to amend any clauses in the constitution or repeal pre-existing laws that would offend fundamental beliefs held by religious groups.

Seventh-day Adventists continued to report that their observance of the Sabbath on Saturdays caused them difficulties, for example by facing challenges with employment due to their inability to work on Saturday.

According to media reports, during the year, the government continued to compensate individuals from a trust fund it established in 2017 for victims of the 1963 Coral Gardens incident in which eight persons were killed and hundreds injured in clashes between a Rastafarian farming community and security forces outside Montego Bay. Rastafarian leaders advocated further steps by the government to account for past and present discrimination against the Rastafarian community, including assistance to develop a monument or museum for the preservation of their culture.

In November, the Jamaica Observer reported that 23 children who had been removed in June from the Qahal Yahweh religious compound were returned to their parents or other relatives. They were removed in June due to parental refusal to have their children vaccinated, and 13 adults, including the leader of the group, were subsequently charged with violations of the Child Care and Protection Act. The case was scheduled to return to family court in February 2024.

In September 2023, the Ministry of Education and Youth published guidelines on the proper conduct of school devotions to ensure the safety and emotional well-being of the student population. This policy was adopted in response to an incident in 2022 at Oberlin High School in St. Andrew Parish in which several students began writhing on the ground and speaking in tongues following a school devotion presented by one of their instructors. In response to the government-issued Guidelines for Devotions in Schools, a Roman Catholic deacon wrote that, while government-owned schools would have to adhere to the guidelines, church schools might well be justified in ignoring them. In his article in the Gleaner, Peter Espeut characterized the guidelines as “…telling churches how they are to conduct prayer and worship in their schools.” Church officials continue to warn government against interfering with the current practices.