More than 50 Haitians gathered in Grand Bahama, along with Association president, Fred Smith, and other members to speak out against what they called “inhumane acts and prejudice against Haitians and other immigrants.”
Sarah Kirkby, the associationﾒs treasurer, stressed that “this is not just a Fred Smith issue, or a political issue, but it is a human rights issue that this association needs to highlight.”
From left are Fred Smith, president, GB Human Rights Association; Sarah Kirkby, Treasurer; Jetta Babtiste, member & president of Haitian/Bahamian Society; Joseph Darville, member; and Bolivar Gustave, member. Standing at the back are members of the Haitian-Bahamian community.
“The Grand Bahama Human Rights Association wants to make it clear that we are not supporting illegal immigration. We are not stating that illegal immigrants of any nationality be allowed to reside illegally in our country, but we are asking the government and especially the Minister of Immigration Shane Gibson to treat immigrants humanely,” she said.
Mrs. Kirkby said the inhumane treatment of the immigrants would reinforce some of the social problems in the country.
“We donﾒt need to aggravate the Bahamian/Haitian aggression already felt in our community and our schools,” she said.
Mr. Smith added, “Haitians are humans too” and “the government needs to set the example in respecting its own laws.”
“They do not have the right to pick up people left right and center without reasonable cause to suspect that they have committed an offence,” he said.
“And when they do arrest them there is an obligation under the constitution to treat them humanely, to treat them with dignity, not to degrade them, protect their property rights and to respect international conventions that The Bahamas is a party to through the Organization of American States (OAS) and through the United Nations on migrant, legal and illegal immigrants.”
Mr. Smith said that the GBHRA would push to bring international attention to the issue. He said he does not want to see the Bahamas “embarrassed by being re-questioned about its practices regarding the legal and illegal immigration before the new United Nations Human Rights Council.”
Their comments came weeks after a massive raid in Eleuthera resulted in authorities picking up nearly 200 Haitians, transporting them to New Providence then later releasing them from the Detention Centre after it was confirmed that they were in the country legally.
Jetta Baptiste, who is the president of the Haitian/Bahamian Society, said if the government does not honour its commitment to the United Nations Declaration on Tolerance and Diversity, signed in March 2001, the association would be “forced to seek international assistance in dealing with this matter.”
“So far we have refrained from protesting, bringing international media attention, calling for economic boycotts, and sanctions against the Bahamas, but donﾒt believe for one minute these measures would not be taken if we are forced to do so,” Ms. Baptiste said.
Mr. Smith said while there is no suggestion from anyone in the Human Rights Association that Haitians are becoming violent, or aggressive, he added, “You canﾒt continue to mistreat people without having a reaction.”
Mr. Smith said he along with others have encouraged persons to be proactive and insist that their rights are respected.
“I have and many others in the Haitian community, and many politicians are encouraging both legal and illegal Haitians to agitate for respect for their rights, and if it means suing, if it means forming associations, if it means demonstrating, if it means protesting, in a country that has freedom of speech [that should be done],” he said.
When asked what he thought the government should do differently, Mr. Smith said he would not comment on that. He said the role of the GBHRA is simply “pointing out to the government is doing wrong.”
“We do not have all the answers and we know that it is a big challenging issue, but we are not in a position to make recommendations on how the government should deal with the issue,” he said.
“There are many suggestions and many answers, many people have views on it, and if our government wants to engage in a constructive meaningful dialogue with NGOs, human rights associations such as ourselves, we could put together a paper, we could make sensible recommendations, if information is shared with us.”
During a recent visit to Grand Bahama, Immigration Minister Shane Gibson said he will not be distracted in his efforts to rid the country of illegal immigrants.
But he said he recognizes the need to be humane.
“The idea is to treat [immigrants] as humanely as possible and to keep their dignity in tact and to make sure that while exercising a rule of law that we are also exercising it with the greatest degree of compassion as possible,” Mr. Gibson said.
Two weeks ago, Haitian Ambassador to the Bahamas Louis Joseph said the embassy respects the rights of the Bahamas as a sovereign nation to fight illegal immigration, but he said the embassy hoped that the rights of Haitian citizens would be respected in the process and that they would be treated humanely.
By: Daphne McIntosh, The Bahama Journal
