The Bahamian government is seriously mistreating Cubans, Haitians and other illegal immigrants who land on the islands. The government detains the immigrants by mandate, denies them a fair process for seeking asylum and abuses them in ways that Amnesty International describes as “cruel, inhuman or degrading.”
Such abuse violates a host of international laws. It also tarnishes the image of a country whose economy relies heavily on international tourism. The Bahamian government must take steps to end arbitrary detention, prevent physical and sexual abuse of detainees and improve protections for asylum seekers and children. Otherwise, the Bahamas risks losing tourists appalled at the unfair treatment and cavalier attitude toward human rights.
Released last week, an Amnesty report decribes unsanitary conditions, decrepit dorms, inadequate healthcare, beatings and sexual encounters between guards and female detainees at the Carmichael Immigrant Detention Centre.
Risks of asylum
Haitians are repatriated so quickly — within five days — that they have little chance of asylum. Bahamian authorities also put Cuban asylum seekers — and their relatives in Cuba — at risk by routinely sending Cuban authorities their names, addresses, photos and birth dates before their status has even been assessed.
The asylum screening process, which exists to protect people who would be persecuted if returned to their homeland, is seriously flawed. Yet Amnesty surmises that Bahamian authorities use the ”miserable conditions” to deter illegal immigrants. That policy violates international law — just as does the U.S. deterrence policy that mandates detention of Haitians arriving illegally by sea.
In the Bahamas’ defense, its acting foreign affairs minister says that the Bahamas ”has to utilize scarce resources . . . to prevent the country from becoming a gateway” to the United States Yet that doesn’t justify deterrence policies that potentially send persecuted people to their deaths.
Cooperation necessary
We understand that the Bahamas is a poor country. The Bahamian government struggles to provide for its own people, much less try to take care of foreigners who illegally land on its shores. Illegal migration is a regional problem. The United States should do its part by doing all it can to prevent uncontrolled immigration, including of those who wish to use the Bahamas as a stepping stone.
The United States should provide resources to the Bahamas so that it may improve its immigration-detention facilities and its asylum process. Beyond that, both countries would benefit by addressing root causes of the problem, starting with the political and economic hopelessness in Cuba and Haiti that drives people to flee. The two governments should work through the Organization of American States. The Bahamas also should use its influence within the Caribbean community. The goal: to work toward stable, prosperous democracies that respect human rights.
An editorial from The Miami Herald.
