R. E. Barnes, the president of Amnesty’s Bahamas branch, told The Bahama Journal yesterday that he has forwarded reports of the incident to AI’s international office due to the human rights concerns the matter is raising.
This could mean that The Bahamas could face more bad international press over the treatment of immigrants as it did during the time two Cuban dentists were detained at the Detention Centre.
Mr. Barnes said that Amnesty International respects the government’s right to protect its borders and fight the illegal immigration problem, but he said respecting human rights is also important.
“It is a difficult problem,” he said of the immigration situation. “The Bahamas because of its geographical position has always been subject to people coming through, to smugglers, to traffickers and so on.
“Amnesty International, let’s be very clear, has always said that the Bahamas or any country has the right to protect its sovereign borders, but in doing so, [it] also must respect the rights of those people who come to the country.”
He said this is particularly the case when it comes to immigrants who have been granted legal status in The Bahamas.
“All people have rights,” Mr. Barnes reminded. “But when you give legal standing to someone, in this case Haitians who have been here for a number of years and have status to work and reside here, then that should be respected.”
He said while he did not know the particulars of each case, it would seem that the human rights of at least some of those immigrants were violated.
Minister of Immigration Shane Gibson said there was a concern that the documents that the Haitians had may have been fraudulent.
It turns out that they were not.
He said that there was nothing to apologize to anyone about and vowed that he will continue his aggressive efforts to get illegal immigrants out of the country.
Mr. Barnes, meanwhile, said that AI’s international secretariat is kept abreast of what is going on in the Bahamas by numerous sources.
The international attention that the Bahamas gets over these kinds of incidents is one of the reasons why the Free National Movement on Monday raised concerns over the handling of the situation involving the Eleuthera immigrants.
“This is an embarrassment to government and to the country and we can only hope that it will not do further damage to the reputation of the Bahamas abroad,” the FNM said.
“The incompetent handling of sensitive matters by the PLP Government has already given the country enough bad publicity.”
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
