Rights Bahamas yesterday announced that it has been granted a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to shine light on the abuse of migrants in the Bahamas. The hearing will take place in Kingston, Jamaica on May 10th this year.
It said Special emphasis was placed on the new immigration policy launched in November 2014, which illegally required everyone in the Bahamas to have a passport and documentation proving their right to reside and work in the country, as well as the aggressive raids and roundups that followed. The application also noted that the government has admitted to deporting at least five individuals to Haiti who were born in The Bahamas and have a constitutional right to citizenship.
The human rights group explained that the request, filed in conjunction with Washington D.C based Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Organization, called for an examination of the treatment of migrants in the country.
This, they said, includes “many reports of human rights abuses, illegal detention and deportation exercises, the implementation of racist and xenophobic policies, the targeting of persons of Haitian descent born in The Bahamas, denial of the right to school to children of migrants and the ongoing inhumane and unsanitary conditions at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.”
It added, “also under scrutiny will be the government’s plan to forcibly and illegally evict residents and demolish homes in communities of predominantly Haitian descent.”
The hearing is set to be as part of the 172nd Ordinary Period of Sessions of the Inter-American Commission On Human Rights (IACHR).
This is an independent organ of the Organization of American States (OAS).
The statement also pointed out that this past Friday, the same day news of the hearing was made public and presumably officially communicated to the government, “The Bahamas Department of Immigration launched an aggressive round of illegal raids and roundups in New Providence, stopping cars and illegally demanding that people produce papers or be detained”.
The organization stated that it certainly hopes this wasn’t intended as “an act of willful defiance or a slap in the face of the Inter-American Commission or the OAS itself.”
The statement said, “special emphasis was placed on the new immigration policy launched in November 2014, which illegally required everyone in the Bahamas to have a passport and documentation proving their right to reside and work in the country, as well as the aggressive raids and roundups that followed.”
It added, “The application also noted that the government has admitted to deporting at least five individuals to Haiti who were born in The Bahamas and have a constitutional right to citizenship.”
Rights Bahamas will be sending a full delegation to Kingston to testify at the hearing.
The government has also been invited to respond to the allegations of abuse and provide information on its efforts to reform the process of immigration enforcement.
Right Bahamas also reminded the government that “the world will be watching as the hearings are broadcast live around the globe.”
It said, “ It’s the organization’s hope that this hearing will mark the beginning of a process leading to the adoption of a more enlightened, humane and lawful immigration policy in the future.”
