WITH the Government indicating that it will be using geofencing technology to supervise returning Jamaicans who will self-quarantine at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, one human rights advocacy group has said it will be keeping a close watch on the development.
It's unclear whether a decree from the prime minister is sufficient to restrict and configure the right in the way the Government intends to,” the JFJ head said.
But if the Government intends to use geofencing digital tracking software on Jamaicans who have returned home, and made that a condition for them accessing their right to return home as it has been reported, that would raise serious human rights challenges that we would not be able to resolve simply by making a decree under the Disaster Risk Management Act, and so that is an issue to watch for,” he said further.
“We also don't have a legal framework for data protection, and so the use and security of that data that is supposed to be used to track and monitor persons in quarantine — something that the State sets up and requires compliance — is something we will have to prove more deeply and something that can't exist without parliamentary oversight,” he added.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Monday said the Government had been at pains over whether to take the decision given the vexed issue of data protection and privacy.
