Kingston, 17 July 2019 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has announced members of the House of Representatives who have been appointed to the Joint Select Committee to consider the Bill entitled ‘An Act to Make provision for the prevention of sexual harassment and for connected matters.’
The MPs named to the Committee are:
- The Honourable Olivia Grange
- The Honourable Delroy Chuck
- Mr Franklin Witter
- Mrs Marisa Dalrymple Philibert
- Mrs Ann-Marie Vaz
- Ms Natalie Neita
- Mr Horace Dalley
- Dr Angela Brown Burke
They will sit jointly with a similar Committee to be appointed by the Senate to consider and report on the Bill.
The Bill is intended to protect women and men whose quality of life is affected by intimidating, hostile, or offensive environments caused by unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favours and crude sexual behaviours.
Kingston, September 26 – The Honourable Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, today announced that “the Prevention of Sexual Harassment draft Bill, with all the revisions recommended by Cabinet, is now ready to be signed off on”.
“The Bill now reflects recommendations that came from Cabinet regarding the establishment of a Sexual Harassment Tribunal to hear all sexual harassment matters and the designation of field officers from the Bureau of Gender Affairs as authorised officers,” the Minister said.
She described the amendments to the draft Bill as “major achievements”.
Including in the draft are new proposals for hearing sexual harassment complaints. According to the Minister, the new proposals include a mechanism for complaints to be dealt with by the Bureau of Gender Affairs.
Minister Grange was speaking at a WMW Jamaica Forum, held under the theme, ‘The impact of Media Reporting on Violence against Women in the Caribbean’ at CARIMAC Annex 11, University of the West Indies, Mona on Wednesday.
The Prevention of Sexual Harassment Bill seeks to protect women and men from unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, and crude sexual behaviours that affect the quality of life by creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment.
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The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, advises that Cabinet has approved the tabling of the bill entitled the National Heroes and Other Freedom Fighters (Absolution from Criminal Liability in Respect of Specified Events) Act in the Houses of Parliament.