The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration yesterday challenged the objectivity and veracity of an international civic organisation’s claims of alleged human rights violations in The Bahamas.

Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F Kennedy Human Rights, wrote an “open letter” to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Fred Mitchell that was recently published on a Caribbean affairs website, inviting the government to address, with RFKHR, a number of allegations concerning abuses and mistreatment of migrants at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.

The letter detailed a denial of entry to the facility during a recent trip to the capital after a week’s delay of a response from the Department of Immigration to the organisation’s request to be allowed to see the premises.

However, the ministry yesterday said it “regrets the tone of the letter which decries the objectives of the organisation Robert F Kennedy Human Rights that states it is ‘committed to ensuring the highest standards of fairness, truth, and justice’.”

“The letter is, again, replete with errors and exaggerations,” the ministry stressed.

“The fact that Robert F Kennedy Human Rights were able to freely enter the country and interview non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and leave without incident speaks to the normal exercise of a strong democracy in the Bahamas and the country’s routine protection of human rights.

“Unfortunately, Robert F Kennedy Human Rights has yet to be fully transparent with regard to its association with a disgruntled permanent resident and the so-called ‘environmental organisation’ Save the Bays in following an evident political agenda in the Bahamas. The Bahamas government continues to put no reliance on their objectivity or commitment to the truth,” the ministry’s statement added.

“With regard to ‘precautionary measures’ requested on behalf of Save the Bays, despite protestations of fearfulness by that organisation’s principals, they have thus far refused to co-operate with the legitimate efforts of the authorities in seeking to ensure their protection from what must now be seen as spurious claims of imminent harm.”

In November, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) called on the government to take steps to protect the lives and personal integrity of five STB members and their nuclear families following a petition made by the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association (GBHRA) members Fred Smith QC, journalist Francisco Nunez, activist Joseph Darville, musician Kirkland Bodie and environmentalist Romauld Ferreira.

The petition alleged that the men have been subject to threats of harm, harassment and intimidation as a result of their advocacy and adversarial stance against the government and private developers on environmental issues, and that these actions have been endorsed by “official and unofficial” state agents.

In Ms Kennedy’s open letter, the president of RFKHR said that international human rights organisations have documented the human rights violations at Carmichael for over a decade, going back as far as 2003 where Amnesty International reported “prolonged, arbitrary detention” and that “the poor conditions observed at the centre and reports of ill-treatment, amount in many cases to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”

“Since then, US State Department Reports and human rights organisations have consistently reported that detention conditions at Carmichael fail to meet international standards,” Ms Kerry wrote. “The Caribbean Institute of Human Right’s (CIHR) 2014 visit to Carmichael revealed disturbing new details. Detainees spoke about overcrowding, the lack of potable drinking water, a broken sewer system, and abusive conditions. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights believed that these facts established at Carmichael were ‘in a serious and urgent situation that place their lives and physical integrity at risk’ and requested that the Bahamian government implement protective measures to safeguard detainees’ lives. Unfortunately, many of the conditions I heard about on this visit echoed earlier inhumane conditions, pointing to an ongoing problem that requires immediate attention.”

The letter also spoke to gender inequality in The Bahamas, noting that “Chapter II of the Constitution of the Bahamas makes distinctions between men and women’s ability to pass on their Bahamian citizenship, which violates the American Convention on Human Rights’ and many other international human rights conventions’ prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sex.”

“Despite widespread local and international support for constitutional amendments that would ‘enshrine the principle of equal rights among women and men in the Constitution,’ these amendments were overwhelmingly rejected by the Bahamian people in the June 2016 referendum, largely because religious leaders opposed to these amendments ran a ‘deceptive campaign’ that mischaracterised women’s equality as a means of legalising same sex marriage,” the international activist noted.

“Robert F Kennedy Human Rights invites you and the rest of the Bahamian government to join us in conversations to address and resolve these human rights violations. This year, we will continue to monitor the implementation of the precautionary measures at Carmichael and those ordered on behalf of the human rights defenders, Save the Bays. We will be also be organising training for civil society organisations on the international legal human rights framework and the Inter-American system of human rights. We invite the government’s input and participation.”

“Let’s work together to ensure that The Bahamas guarantees human rights for everyone within its jurisdiction,” Ms Kennedy concluded.