Jamaica's International Image: Reaping What We Have Shown

President Obama didn't hide his 'evolution' on Same-sex marriage, and during his visit to Jamaica President Obama was not bashful about his administration and nation's fundamental views on Human Rights that are ensured in their constitution since the USA's conception, in fact during his presentation he made the effort to point out a LGBT/Women Rights activist and endorsed her efforts to advance these rights for the communities she represents. 

It would be foolish to assume that the bilateral Obama-Simpson-Miller discussion at Jamaica House excluded Human Rights - specifically Jamaica's LGBT community, therefore it is was foreseeable that any group/person was prepared to say "told you so", if the United States decided to initiate serious diplomatic discourse on the issue, as we see now with the special envoys.

Any attempt to lead the impressionable population – those on the middle ground not convince either way – down the path of believing that nothing is wrong with how human rights is talked about and dealt with currently in Jamaica is dangerous. We can't continue rejecting the outside criticism of our internal affairs if we proclaim to be a western democracy, we must introspect or decide to isolate and block out the noise of the international community that we are apart.

Reaping What We Shown

Jamaica in the eyes of the international community has many things to be praised and rebuked for including our culture, music, athletics, economy management and homophobia - It was not too long ago the TIME magazine labeled us the most homophobic place on earth, so many other headlines have came before and still continue to be seen even as we improve.

The international community is still concerned about our how our laws and culture continue to affect the treatment of some vulnerable groups and minorities as reported by the Minister of Justice, Senator Mark Golding in debrief of the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review; including women, disabled and lgbt.

We are surely reaping what we have sown, its equated to our economic mismanage-rs label that has brought us to our knees before the IMF,as the world watches closely to see if we stay the austerity course towards being fiscally prudent, before they decide to seriously invest in Jamaica. 

Jamaica will continue to receive human rights nudges  from our developed international partners - It is important we reject any attempts to 'meddle' or 'strong arm' our sovereignty into submitting before our native culture and society advances either naturally or local disturbances in form of activism.