Above: UNHCR headquarters in Geneva
By the Caribbean Journal staff
The United Nations Refugee Agency is “deploring” the abduction and murder of Jamaican lawyer Clover Graham.
Graham, who was the UN High Commissioner for Refugee’s honorary liaison in Jamaica, was murdered over the weekend in Jamaica. She had worked with UNHCR on refugee and asylum rights in the country since 1998.
“It is a tragic loss for her relatives, friends and UNHCR,” said UNHCR Regional Representative Vincent Cochetel. “She was always ready to give her time, energy, legal expertise and even her personal money to assist destitute refugees and asylum seekers in Jamaica.”
Clover was born in Jamaica and was a dual British-Jamaican citizen.
“UNHCR deplores the brutal murder of Clover and urges the authorities to do their utmost to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous crime against a well-known and widely-respected human rights advocate,” Cochetel said.
Clover had also been working with the UNHCR to help it monitor the situation of Haitian refugees in the northern Caribbean.
“As the UNHCR Honorary Representative in Jamaica, Clover was a volunteer and represented all the core values of what is a humanitarian aid worker,” Cochetel said. “She was caring, committed and proactive.”