LONDON, December 3, 2005 (Christian Aid)  –  Steve Harvey from Christian Aid partner, Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL), has been murdered in Jamaica.  He ran a programme providing support to gay men and sex workers.
 

Three men, armed with guns, broke into Mr Harvey’s house and demanded money.  They then forced him to carry valuables into the JASL car parked outside.

One of the gun men was reported to have said to Mr Harvey and his two house-mates: ‘We hear that you are gay’.  Two of the men denied it.  They were tied up and left in the house.  Steve was forced into the car which then sped away.  Two hours later, he was found, shot dead.

Jamaica has one of the highest murder rates in the world. With a population of only 2.7 million people, the country has seen 1,383 murders in 2005 alone. Gun violence is common and homophobia rife.

Victims of homophobic violence are often too scared to appeal to the police for protection.

 According to Human Rights Watch: “Police actively support homophobic violence, fail to investigate complaints of abuse, and arrest and detain [men] based on their alleged homosexual conduct,” Human Rights Watch say.

Last year, the founder of Jamaica’s gay rights movement, Brian Williamson, was murdered. Investigators claimed the motive for murder was robbery, since a safe was missing and the apartment ransacked. However, many believe the killing was a hate crime.

Homosexuality is illegal in Jamaica: men convicted of homosexual activity can face ten years’ imprisonment with hard labour.

“JASL defends the rights of people who are not considered to have any rights in Jamaica,” a Christian Aid spokesperson said.

“The work they do is very dangerous.”

Human Rights Watch reports that Jamaica’s growing HIV/AIDS epidemic is unfolding in the context of widespread violence and discrimination against people living with and at high risk of HIV/AIDS, especially men who have sex with men.

An estimated 1.5 per cent of Jamaicans are living with HIV/AIDs.  Although two thirds of HIV transmission is through heterosexual sex, many people still blame gay men for spreading the virus.

On Sunday, Mr Harvey led JASL’s annual candle-lit vigil in memory of those killed by HIV.

“Mr Harvey had played a leading role in the HIV charity, Jamaica AIDS Support, since 1997,” said Peter Tatchell of the UK gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organisation, OutRage!.  “He organised HIV awareness and prevention programmes for gay men and sex workers.

“We worked with Jamaican groups last year to support their efforts to challenge homophobia and to provide health and welfare support to gay Jamaicans.

“OutRage! salutes Steve’s immense courage and dedication. He played a pivotal role in ensuring that safer sex advice and condoms were available to all Jamaicans, including gay and bisexual men.

“It is thanks to the efforts of Steve and his colleagues in JAS that many Jamaican men and women – both gay and straight – have not contracted HIV. They have helped save hundreds of lives.

“Steve’s memory lives on in the lives of the living,” said Mr Tatchell.

JASL is now mourning the death of one of their strongest defendants of people living with HIV/AIDS.

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