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Jamaicans are dangerously unaware of their own human rights and that ignorance could cost them dearly.

That was the grim observation of Public Defender Carolyn Reid-Cameron, who said that too many citizens have become numb to the erosion of their freedoms.

"We are leaning back and allowing a lot of our rights to be taken away from us, or allowing our rights to be encroached upon and we're comfortable with it," she said, addressing the 25th Anniversary of the Office of the Public Defender on Thursday at the ROK Hotel in Kingston.

Citing public support for measures like states of emergency and zones of special operations, Reid-Cameron said many Jamaicans are actually "calling for" their own rights to be stripped without understanding the long-term consequences.

"It tells me we are in a crisis. It tells me that a lot of us don't even know what we are summoning onto ourselves. And when people don't know their rights, they don't defend them, they surrender them," she said. Her words struck a chord, especially with Captain Natalie James from the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, who also called out citizens' lack of basic knowledge around human rights.

"People say, 'Mi have rights,' but when you ask them what those rights are, they really don't know." James also highlighted that persons have a responsibility to ensure that they don't infringe on others' rights.

The call for massive public education on rights was echoed across the panel at the event, but for Jhana Harris, legal officer at the Child Protection and Family Services Agency, the biggest human rights issue is that children are not recognised as people.

"People feel like they own their kids, like the child must be seen, not heard," she said.

"When a child does something that you don't like, you slap the child. But when your adult friend does something that you don't like, you slap your adult friend? So we are saying that we should acknowledge children as human beings, acknowledge them as persons, because you don't understand the effect, the long-term effect of slapping a child, always verbally quarrelling with the child, shouting at the child, scolding the child. It really does have an impact on your self-esteem, your self-confidence and the way they bring about themselves throughout the world," she said.