Pearnel Patroe Charles Jr.

Pearnel Patroe Charles Jr. is a Jamaican politician and attorney.

Charles has been the Minister of Labour and Social Security since May 22, 2023. He was Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in January 2022. He was formerly Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change from September 2020 and has been the member of parliament for Clarendon South Eastern since March 2020.

He is co-chair of the NDC Partnership.

Charles Jr is a former Government Senator and Member of Cabinet where he served as Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change. Prior to this appointment, he served as Minister without Portfolio from March 25, 2019, in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation with responsibility for Water, Housing, and Infrastructure, preceded by his tenure as Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade with responsibility for Diaspora Affairs and the National Council for Coastal Zone Management, among other areas.

Charles is also an executive member of the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO and serves as the Chairman of the UNESCO Youth Advisory Committee (UNESCOJAYAC). He is the conceptualizer of the UNESCOJAYAC Ambassador programme which has brought several youth across the country together to embark on a number of initiatives to boost youth engagement and participation in national development while promoting the goals and objectives of UNESCO.

Additionally, Charles is the chairman of the National Council on Ocean and Coastal Zone Management (NCOCZM), a multi-sector, multi-stakeholder, high level advisory body to the cabinet on ocean and coastal zone affairs, and its committees. He has a keen interest in the promotion and implementation of the sustainable development goals and in, July 2018, he led Jamaica's delegation to the United Nations that successfully presented the country's voluntary national review on the implementation of the SDGs at the high level political forum of the UN Economic and Social Council.

As a government senator, Charles was on the senate Standing Orders Committee and Private Bills Committee.

Charles was previously appointed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness as a senator and as the Minister of State in Ministry of National Security on March 7, 2016. This was consequent to the 2016 Jamaican general election victory of Holness' Jamaica Labour Party when it defeated the People's National Party to gain control of the house of representatives.

During his tenure as the minister of state in Ministry of National Security, Charles had specific responsibility for the Department of Correctional Services, the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force and special projects within the national security portfolio. With a focus on youth development, he established the Learning by Doing Competition in 2016, promoting a student-centered approach to rehabilitation. In 2017, this initiative evolved into th We Transform Programme, a youth empowerment and reintegration programme operating across all juvenile institutions in the Department of Correctional Services.