#Bahamas, August 17, 2017 – Nassau – The United Nations Human Rights Commission is telling a local newspaper that Bahamas laws are lagging when it comes to how legitimate refugees are handled; and it is leading to outrageously lengthy detention times for those who rightly fall into the category. The Tribune reports that this is a twenty year old problem, and despite the fact that The Bahamas has signed onto the conventions since 1993, which would necessitate these laws, the legal framework is simply absent.
UNHCR Assistant Protection Officer, Deneisha Moss Balboni said, “…if you look at the people who are admitted into a process and have access to UNHCR, there are still ongoing gaps because there are no guarantees under Bahamian law for people who are recognized as refugees. So things that are protections that are provided for in the refugee convention that people don’t have access to, for example the right to be issued ID documents and whatever necessary residence permit to facilitate a refugee’s continued stay in a country of asylum, or a right to gainful employment so they could become self-sufficient or the right to access basic healthcare and education.”
No law it seems, equates to no respect for the right of that UNHCR refugee and for 12 detainees at the Carmichael Road detention center, who were recently released it meant being held for years and years and years without any criminal charge. Bascially, local laws should allow the proven refugee to have freedom of movement.
Moss Balboni reports that the Government is prepared to fill the legislative gaps with some formal mechanisms, adding that as an advisor for the United Nations, her outlook for the future is bright as The Bahamas aims to get this right.
#MagneticMediaNews
Photo Credit: The Tribune
