The United States government has raised concerns about alleged human rights abuses in Jamaica, citing the need for stronger action from government.

This, in its 2022 Report on Human Rights Practices in Jamaica.

The report, published on March 20, says there were significant human rights issues in the country in the past year.

These included unlawful and arbitrary killings by government security forces; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment by the government; harsh and life-threatening conditions in prisons and detention facilities; arbitrary arrest and detention; and serious government corruption.

The report says there was a lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence in the past year, while noting the existence of a law criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults, even though the government did not enforce the law during the year.

It gave the government credit for taking some steps to investigate and prosecute members of the security forces who committed human rights abuses, but said there were credible reports that some alleged to have committed human rights abuses were not subject to full and swift accountability.

The report notes that the government did not effectively implement the law on corruption, noting there were numerous credible allegations of government corruption, including by officials who sometimes engaged in corrupt practices with impunity, according to government audits.

On the positive end, Jamaica was also praised for respecting the right to freedom of expression of citizens and the media and for having free and fair election processes.