Jamaica
Kingston, Jamaica
Key Facts
Head of State: HM King Charles III
Joined the Commonwealth: 1962
Capital City (location of Parliament): Kingston
Unicameral/Bicameral: Bicameral, House of Representatives and Senate
Further Information:
- Parliament of Jamaica
- IPU - House of Representatives (63) and Senate (21)
- CPA Country Directory
- CPA Caribbean, America and Atlantic Region
- Commonwealth Secretariat
- UN Data
- BBC Country Profile
- British High Commission Kingston
- Jamaica High Commission London
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CPA UK & Jamaica
The UK Parliament and Parliament of Jamaica have a historically strong collaborative relationship. In February 2022, CPA UK welcomed a delegation from the Parliament of Jamaica to Westminster. This was the first Commonwealth delegation CPA UK had received since the pandemic began.
During Jamaica's previous Parliament, there were reciprocal bilateral visits between the UK and Jamaica. In September 2016, CPA UK welcomed a delegation of newly elected Jamaican parliamentarians. In September 2017, CPA UK led a parliamentary delegation to the Parliament of Jamaica in Kingston, Jamaica.
Jamaican parliamentarians are frequent participants and contributors to CPA UK's multilateral programmes, most recently the Westminster Seminar in March 2022 and the virtual Caribbean Clerks Programmes in 2021 and 2022.
Several Jamaican parliamentarians have joined CPA BIMR Election Observation Missions to UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. In November 2019, a Jamaican MP was the Head of Mission of the CPA BIMR Election Observation Mission to the Montserrat General Election.
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Our Recent Programmes
Westminster Seminar on Evolving Parliaments 2022, UK Parliament & Virtual, 14-18 March 2022
CPA UK hosted the Westminster Seminar, our flagship peer-to-peer learning programme for parliamentarians and clerks from across the Commonwealth.
We celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Westminster Seminar, a series focused on parliamentary procedure and practice that started in 1952. To encourage greater inclusivity, this was the first Westminster Seminar in its long history to be in a hybrid format. We were delighted to once again be welcoming delegates back to Westminster and made provisions for virtual participation.
Parliament of Jamaica visiting delegation, London, 22-25 February 2022
CPA UK hosted a visiting delegation of parliamentarians from the upper and lower houses of the Parliament of Jamaica to Westminster.
The programme explored aspects of parliamentary procedure and allowed for the sharing of best practice between the two legislatures. There were bilateral meetings to discuss issues of mutual interest to parliamentarians in the UK and Jamaica.
Caribbean Clerks Programme, Virtual, 11-12 January 2022
CPA UK hosted our annual Caribbean Clerks programme on Zoom. This two-day programme brought together clerks from the UK and Caribbean region to share experiences and good practices.
The programme was designed to address regional-specific needs, following consultation with Caribbean legislatures. Speakers from across the Caribbean and the UK contributed their experience and practices in a peer-to-peer learning format.
Caribbean Clerks Programme, Virtual, 13-14 January 2021
CPA UK invited 11 legislatures from across the Caribbean for an online programme designed for parliamentary clerks to increase their capacity and skills in facilitating virtual and hybrid activities.
The programme took place on 13 and 14 January 2021. The topics covered also included communications, both with members and the public.
CPA UK Cybersecurity Workshop, London, 24-27 February 2020
CPA UK hosted a Cybersecurity workshop to help Parliamentarians from across the Commonwealth develop their capacity on Cybersecurity. The objective of this workshop was to explore and support delivery of the commitments in the 2018 Commonwealth Cyber Declaration. This included raising awareness of current cybersecurity threats and challenges. There were discussions on existing international and regional laws, and frameworks on cybersecurity, including the African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection, and the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. The report is available here.
The CAPAC Caribbean Regional Workshop was attended by 31 Chairs, Members and Clerks from 11 Commonwealth Public Accounts Committees in the region. Participating PACs joined from Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks and Caicos Islands. Delegates exchanged good practice for financial scrutiny and oversight and collaborated to find approaches to shared challenges. The workshop formed part of CPA UK's work in the Commonwealth Partnership for Democracy (CP4D).
CPA BIMR Election Observation Mission to Montserrat, Montserrat, 11-20 November 2019
From 11-20 November 2019, international observers carried out an independent Election Observation to the Montserrat 2019 General Election. The Mission concluded the elections were “vibrant, peaceful and highly competitive”, but also made a significant number of recommendations for future improvements. The Mission was headed up by Hon. Julian Robinson MP from the Parliament of Jamaica who was joined by representatives and election and campaign experts from the Isle of Man, Anguilla, Ireland, Denmark, France and the UK. The report is available here.
CPA UK Delegation to Jamaica, Kingston, 18-22 September 2017
The CPA UK delegation to Jamaica followed a visit by Jamaican Parliamentarians to Westminster in September 2016. The bilateral programme, which involved various meetings with representatives from government, parliament, civil society and NGOs, provided UK delegates with a wide-ranging overview of Jamaica’s current political, economic and social outlook as well as the challenges faced. The relationship between Jamaica and the UK was also widely discussed and areas for possible collaboration and partnership were identified.
