The human rights group, Amnesty International has issued an “Urgent Action Bulletin” on behalf of Jean Rony Jean-Charles, after his family claimed that they did not know his whereabouts after being deported from the Bahamas.
An urgent call has been made to hundreds of amnesty associates, according to a press statement by Rights Bahamas.
“An Urgent Action is a call to hundreds of Amnesty associates around the world, asking them to put pressure on the government in question – including letters, emails, phone calls, faxes and tweets – regarding emergency cases of human rights abuses.
“The intention is to make the relevant authorities quickly realize that the world is watching and an international audience is deeply concerned about the case’s outcome. That global pressure often helps achieve a positive outcome,” according to the statement.
The Amnesty statement is calling on the government to do several things including:
“The Minister of Immigration to immediately grant Jean-Charles unrestricted access to his lawyer, and to provide his family with immediate information about his whereabouts.
“The Prime Minister to urgently share a written human rights – based migration policy that uses detention only as a measure of last resort; includes details of the processes available to those who wish to regularize their status; and screening processes to avoid the expulsion of individuals born in the Bahamas with a right to Bahamian nationality.
“The Prime Minister to fully implement the 2015 precautionary measures to safeguard the lives and integrity of detainees held at Carmichael Detention Centre, and to provide better hygienic conditions, medical treatment for detainees, reduce overcrowding, provide access to legal assistance, and allow civil society organizations access to Carmichael to monitor conditions,” the statement said.
Last week, a Supreme Court Judge gave the Immigration Department until December 19 to provide evidence to justify detaining Jean-Charles as well as to identify his location or produce the Bahamian born to his family.
Yesterday, a prayer vigil was held for Jean-Charles.
Queen’s Council, Fred Smith represents Jean-Charles.
