The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

“Serious consequences” could have arisen had the Bahamas been again classified as a Tier Two Watch and subsequently downgraded on the United States’ Trafficking in Persons report, National Security Minister Bernard Nottage said.

He was speaking yesterday at the Ministry of National Security where he also confirmed, $100,000 has been set aside in the proposed 2013/2014 budget to assist victims of human trafficking.

The Bahamas has been upgraded from Tier Two Watch to a Tier Two status – having been listed as a Tier Two Watch country since 2011.

The TIP report noted that while the government is making significant efforts to combat trafficking, the Bahamas is still a “destination, source, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking.”

Joined by State Minister of National Security Keith Bell, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson, as well as Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell, Dr Nottage was on hand yesterday to announce the status change.

“The Bahamas government welcomes this development as the right decision by the government of the United States,” he said.

“We use this opportunity this morning to remind the public that trafficking in persons is a serious offence. The consequences for the Bahamas could have been serious had we not been able to convince our American friends that the Bahamas was not complicit in this nefarious business.”

He explained that the stages are Tier One, Tier Two, Tier Two (Watch), and Tier Three.

“If you are on Tier Two Watch for two years in a row, you are automatically downgraded to Tier Three,” Dr Nottage said. “Tier Three carries with it certain sanctions unless waived. Principally for us that would have meant the United States opposing loans to the Bahamas for our development through the Inter American Development Bank. This would have been quite serious had it happened.”

The government as well as law enforcement “galvanised behind the effort” to ensure that did not happen, he said.

“There has been intense training of our police officers, immigration officers, Defence Force officers and legal professionals on sensitivity to this issue.

“Money has been set aside to ensure that victims of trafficking were treated appropriately and not victimised for a second time.”

The amount of money set aside is listed in the budget as $100,000, according to Dr Nottage. He said: “It’s the government’s responsibility then to provide (victims) with a safe place to live, with any protections – that’s what the money is for.”

Dr Nottage also said that as part of the effort to ensure no repeat of the Tier Two (Watch) status, “There have been site visits to job sites in the Bahamas where the possibility of offences might occur.”

A US State Department report released in June, 2012 said an alleged lack of “freedom of movement” for Chinese workers at a large-scale construction site is an indication that human trafficking may be taking place.

Although the report did not specify what site it was referring to, the Thomas A Robinson national stadium, the Baha Mar resort, the Chinese Embassy, and various road projects in the Family Islands could all be described as large-scale construction projects with employed Chinese workers. Both Baha Mar and the Chinese Embassy refuted an alleged lack of freedom of movement.

When asked if any of those mentioned job sites have been visited, Mr Mitchell confirmed that Baha Mar was visited – as well as several other establishments.

“There was a site visit to Baha Mar,” he said. “Various things ware pointed out to the employers but nothing of a nature which offended the law, as such. Things that they could resolve.

As for other places, he said police were involved in visiting “a number of establishments” that had criminal complaints made against them.

“I can’t call the names of them, but largely on suspicion of prostitution or some dance clubs - things of that nature. And then of course there were individual complaints,” he said.

Those individual complaints included foreign workers having their passports held by employers.

“That’s a point that needs to be made,” Mr Mitchell said. “If you are an employer, you should not be holding your employee’s passport, if they are non-national, that is not permitted because the person should be free to go; to leave and to come.”

Also stressing the importance of the country’s status upgrade, Mr Mitchell said the Bahamas is “all about image” and it must be ensured that no damage is done to that image.

“I don’t want people to underestimate the importance of this given where it comes from,” he said, noting the amount of United States nationals that visit the Bahamas.

For her part, Mrs Maynard-Gibson stressed the country’s strong opposition to human trafficking.

“We have laws that criminalises trafficking in persons and the preamble of our Constitution speaks about us recognising Christian values and the rule of law and if we believe in Christian values, we’re not going to support slavery,” she said.