Improvement of operational protocols of Shiprider Agreement between Jamaica and the US

Improved operational protocols that have been concerning to the Shiprider Agreement have been finalised by the Government of Jamaica and the United States of America. In the Shiprider Agreement, both countries would be working together to mitigate illegal maritime drug smuggling.

Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, while disclosing about this agreement, said that both sides agreed for the changes of the operational protocols necessary those would be to improve the functioning of the agreement and that those new procedures became effective from June 16, 2021.

Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, said, in a statement during the sitting of the Senate on Friday that with the finalisation of the operational protocols, both countries have been standing to benefit from an improvement in the sharing of critical information and in the process of blocking vessels those would be suspected of being involved in drug smuggling or any other drug -criminal activities. According to the statements of

According to the statements of Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, who has also been Leader of Government Business in the Senate, that the protocols also had allowed the Government of Jamaica to achieve their goals of increasing the fight against illegal drug smuggling, while at the same time protecting the interests of Jamaican citizens those might be intercepted at sea, according to the Agreement.

Kamina Johnson Smith said that those additional protocols would, undoubtedly, deepen Jamaica’s cooperation with the US in these matters.

Kamina Johnson Smith said that Jamaica’s firm commitment would be engaging with their international partners to fight against the use of the country’s waters for trafficking purposes.

Kamina Johnson Smith said that had remained a critical part of breaking the back of serious and organised crimes in Jamaica and was, therefore, to the benefit of each and every law-abiding Jamaican citizen, whose rights might never be subordinated to those of the criminal elements among us.

The Agreement looks for further cooperation in deterring the movement of illegal drug trafficking through Jamaican territories waters from South America to the US. It has been further allowing for collaboration in ship boarding, ship riding and overflight.

According to the agreement, the US Coast Guard law-enforcement detachments operating from specific foreign government ships would board suspected ships in Jamaican waters. It would also speed up the provision of technical assistance, including drug-detection technology, between the countries and puts a framework in place to run the jurisdiction in each nation’s continuous zone.

It also ensures more excellent protection for civil aircraft, including an agreement that neither the US nor Jamaica will use force against civil aircraft in flight.