Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson reiterated the government’s position regarding claims by the US State Department regarding the state of human rights in the country as she called the report inaccurate.
Her comments came while speaking to reporters outside of Cabinet yesterday.
“The government objects to the numerous inaccuracies in that report, there are many untruths and there will be an official protest coming from the government of The Bahamas,” Mrs. Maynard-Gibson said.
The US State report highlighted the government’s “intimidation of non-governmental organizations” and efforts by the government and authorities to inhibit “free speech through criminal libel laws” as problems for the Bahamas.
The report also referenced alleged cases of immigration officials soliciting bribes from migrants and alleged beatings of migrants and prisoners in custody.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the report had “inaccurate” and in some cases “incomplete” information.
They added with regard to the matter pertaining to the Hon. Minister of Education, the ministry reminds the media that the ruling of the Supreme Court is being appealed and it is only upon the resolution of the matter that it can be substantively addressed further.
This report comes on the heels of the Amnesty International report that made similar claims.
The Amnesty report noted that local human rights groups have expressed fear regarding government surveillance online and made specific reference of the Supreme Court ruling that Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald had breached the constitutional rights to privacy and to freedom of expression of members of environmental group Save The Bays (STB).
In response to this, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that without qualification there is no threat to privacy in The Bahamas, adding that the reports of any such threat are entirely misplaced.
The globally respected US State Department Annual report delivers a comprehensive analysis of the state of human rights around the world, covering 159 countries.
