...the difficult questions of citizenship and the dangerous problem of stateless people in The Bahamas

Future Peace Of The Nation Depends On Citizenship Issue 

By PACO NUNEZ

Tribune News Editor

pnunez@tribunemedia.net

Nassau, The Bahamas

THE chances of a peaceful future for the Bahamas may depend on whether the difficult questions of citizenship and the dangerous problem of stateless people is dealt with, the Constitutional Commission has warned.

Noting the “perceived unfairness” in the system as it currently stands, and the serious implications of a very large number of people living in the country without status, the commission recommended that a special task force examine citizenship issues and report back as quickly as possible.

“This must be made a matter of high priority for the government.  The future peace and internal harmony of Bahamian society may well depend on it,” the report said.

“The commission cannot overstate the enormous psychological, socio-economic and other ill-effects that result from leaving large groups of persons in limbo in relation to their aspirations for Bahamian citizenship.

“Not only are the affected individuals badly damaged and marginalised, the entire society is put at risk and its future compromised by having within its borders a substantial body of persons who, although having no knowledge or experience of any other society, are made to feel that they are intruders without any claim, moral or legal, for inclusion.

“Such feelings of alienation and rejection are bound to translate into anti-social behaviour among many members of what is, in effect, a very large underclass in our society,” the report said.

The commission said citizenship was a top priority among those it interviewed prior to compiling the report – second only to the death penalty.

Among the recommendations in this area were that all provisions relating to the acquisition of citizenship and its transmission to children be expressed in “gender-neutral” language, so as to remove any sign of discrimination against women.

“Most persons who spoke to the commission or made presentations were of the view that the discriminatory provisions ought to be removed, although there were occasional instances of a clinging to some of the patrilineal provisions in the current constitution,” the report said.

“The point on which there was the greatest divide related to the general provisions providing for citizenship. There could be found no agreement on this issue, particularly with regard to how to treat persons born in the Bahamas to non-Bahamian parents . . . a group that includes the numerically large native-born children of Haitian immigrants to the Bahamas.”

The commission said given the size and complexity of this problem, its work was only preliminary and must be continued.

But, the report emphasised, “the commission is not in favour of automatic citizenship by reason only of birth on Bahamian soil.”

Among its specific recommendations in this area were that:

• the reference to filius nullius, (child of no father) be deleted to remove any difference in treatment based on the marital status of the parent.

• Bahamian men and women have the equal ability to transmit citizenship to their foreign spouses under Article 10, except that there should be provisions (preferably in the Nationality and Immigration Acts) to guard against marriages of convenience.

• amendments be made to ensure that those persons born to Bahamians outside the Bahamas, as well as persons born to non-Bahamians in the Bahamas would not be rendered stateless.

• the ability of a Bahamian father or mother to transmit their citizenship to their children born overseas should be a right not conditioned on how the parent acquired citizenship.

• the provision that applications for citizenship must be submitted within 12 months after the applicant turns 18 be reconsidered.

• changes be made to ensure both men and women can pass on Bahamian citizenship to their children, regardless of marital status.

• the position with respect to dual citizenship or nationality should be stated, and in particular persons who are eligible for Bahamian citizenship should not be denied registration simply because they possess another nationality. Renunciation of another citizenship should also not be made a condition to the grant of citizenship.

SIDEBAR - The issue of statelessness

From the section of the commission’s report on citizenship

The commission notes, and it has also been drawn to its attention in the presentation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), that several provisions of the constitution might have the effect of creating a class of persons who are stateless.

The 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines a stateless person as “a person who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its laws.”

As was further indicated in the submission from the UNHCR, these provisions of the constitution are not only “contrary to the ICCPR and CEDAW, but also problematic in light of the Bahamas’ obligations pursuant to the CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child).”

The most significant of these under our constitution is Article 7 which operates to reduce many persons to a situation of effective statelessness, as the persons who are primarily affected are either unwilling or unable to avail themselves of the other nationality to which they are entitled.

Needless to say, the majority of persons who fall into this category are children born in the Bahamas to Haitian parents.

The issue of statelessness arises in respect of this category of persons as set out below. The Haitian constitution provides for persons to acquire nationality through descent, but only if either of their parents is native-born, and have never renounced their citizenship (Article 11, 1987 Constitution of Haiti).

Thus, those persons born in the Bahamas to a native-born Haitian parent who has not renounced Haitian citizenship would become Haitian nationals at birth and retain it indefinitely thereafter.

But if their parents are not native-born or have renounced, they would effectively be stateless. Thus the right to claim Haitian citizenship by descent is limited to the first generation.

Even where persons falling into this category are entitled to Haitian citizenship, most choose not to acquire Haitian passports, as in any event they would be required to renounce that citizenship at 18 to acquire Bahamian citizenship.

The Haitian Constitution forbids dual Haitian and foreign nationality.

Children born abroad to a Bahamian parent in circumstances where they are unable to acquire the nationality of the Bahamian parent may also be at risk of statelessness, at least until they reach the age of majority.

For example, under Article 8, the right of a father to transmit his citizenship is not available if he himself acquired his citizenship by descent and was not native-born.

Similarly, with respect to a Bahamian female married to a foreign man, the child may be rendered stateless (at least until 18), if the father is unable by the citizenship rules of his country to transmit his citizenship, and if citizenship is not available by birth in the place where the child is born.

Effects of statelessness

The commission cannot overstate the enormous psychological, socio-economic and other ill-effects that result from leaving large groups of persons in limbo in relation to their aspirations for Bahamian citizenship. Not only are the affected individuals badly damaged and marginalised, the entire society is put at risk and its future compromised by having within its borders a substantial body of persons who, although having no knowledge or experience of any other society, are made to feel that they are intruders without any claim, moral or legal, for inclusion. Such feelings of alienation and rejection are bound to translate into anti-social behaviour among many members of what is, in effect, a very large underclass in our society.

The representatives from the Haitian community, in a most frank and open way, shared some of the effects they and others in the Haitian community have suffered:

• Discrimination

• Unable to open a bank account

• Feeling no sense of belonging and feeling rejected

•You feel as if you are the problem

• Not allowed to work in certain jobs

• Young people going through the transitory state are taken advantage of and abused by the authorities

• Many stateless young people feel like aliens not just because they are not automatically entitled to citizenship in their birth country but they also do not feel welcome in the country of their parents’ birth. Essentially, these people become virtually stateless in their own country of birth, the consequence is despair and frustration.

• No opportunity for scholarships afforded to all other children. “These children are cursed to a lifelong penalty and stigma,” one said.

This is obviously a most untenable position in which to place individuals who were born in the Bahamas, have no connection (other than ancestral) to any other country, and have no intention of residing anywhere else.

In this regard, the commission notes the warning of noted Bahamian social scientist, Dr Dawn Marshall, in her classic study on Haitian migration to the Bahamas. Although published in 1979, it is as timely today as it was then:

“The study of Carmichael Road Haitians indicates that many children are being born in the Bahamas who in a decade or two will be claiming their rights as Bahamian citizens. Not all of these native-born Haitians will docilely accept the denial of their rights. It is time, then, that the Bahamas government begins to think about the future of these potential citizens and not condemn them to personal destinies of isolation and relative deprivation.”

July 09, 2013

Tribune 242

The Bahamas police are doing their job, but the Bahamian courts are soft on law breakers

Tough laws promised to keep criminals in prison

tribune242 editorial

Nassau, The Bahamas



AN EXASPERATED Police Commissioner yesterday called for stiffer penalties for law breakers.

He said that criminals were not taking the law seriously because punishments were too light. In other words criminals were just playing a catch-me-if-you can game with the police, while wreaking vengeance on society.

The Commissioner was asked by the press whether the police were doing enough to stop the bloodshed -- which with 100 murders made Bahamian history over the weekend. As we wrote this column last night a report flashed across our screen that two more persons- a man and a woman- had just been shot in Nassau Village. They were taken to hospital - the man in serious condition, the woman stable.

One could almost see the Commissioner biting his tongue at yesterday's conference as he tried to gingerly skirt the reporter's question.

He said police officers were arresting the suspects, but after a person was charged it was out of their hands and up to the courts. He said he did not want to speak on the issue in too much detail.

He might not want to elaborate on what is a sore point in police ranks, but we shall do it for him.

The answer simply put is: The police are doing their job, but the courts are not.

Let's look at a five-day period to give our readers some idea of what is happening.

Between July 12 and 17th this year 39 prisoners were released from HM Prison by the courts.

Of this number 22 of them were in prison on remand. The courts gave them bail and released them.

Of these, six were charged with murder and at least three of them went before the magistrate's court with a well established criminal record.

Also among the 22 released onto the streets within a five-day period were persons charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, armed robbery, rape, housebreaking, possession of firearms and drugs, causing grievous harm, fraud and forgery. Many of them have prison records, most of them for violence. Four of them were fitted with electronic monitoring devices.

Examining their records it is obvious that they have been sent back into society without any hope of finding a job or earning an honest crust of bread to keep them alive until their court date. And so what do they do?

We leave it to our readers to answer that question. It is easy to connect the dots and understand what is happening in the country. Commissioner Greenslade has already connected the dots, but does not want to talk about the picture they present -- at least not in public.

In an England gone soft on law breakers, a sudden outbreak, mainly by youth, of rioting and destruction last month, quickly brought legislators to their senses. Vowing to stop the "slow-motion moral collapse" of his country, Prime Minister David Cameron demanded stiff penalties for law breakers. The courts immediately responded, so much so that the weak-hearted are sniffling that the law is going too far. But Cameron is taking no nonsense. He has vowed to introduce laws to "crack down on lawlessness and promote a responsible society."

He directed his cabinet to look for ways to combat a "broken society" in which "fathers had abdicated responsibility for their children, schools had given up on discipline and crimes had gone unpunished."

The courts' harsh sentences were intended to reflect the authorities' anger at the looting, burning and murder that raged through London and spread to other cities.

For example, a mother who was given a pair of shorts stolen by a rioter was jailed for five months, a student went to prison for six months for stealing a box of bottled water worth about $4, while a man was jailed for four years for posting a message on Facebook to encourage people to start a riot. Courts also remanded defendants in custody until their court hearing.

Mr Cameron was pleased that the courts had sent a tough message by stiff sentences. Across the country courts were working extra hours to deal with the offenders, which moved into the thousands.

Police Commissioner Greenslade wants sanctions tough enough to make persons afraid to carry a gun in this country because they would know that they would be removed from their family and friends for a very long time.

Since the courts don't seem inclined to step up to the plate, when the House of Assembly returns from its summer break on October 5 government plans to introduce a number of new Bills to prevent violent, repeat offenders from getting bail.

"We hope that we will provide some teeth, some additional resource, to keep these criminals behind bars," said National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest.

Some Bahamians are so agitated by the seeming indifference of the courts, that they are now suggesting that maybe there are those in the system who are trying to embarrass the government.

The situation is bad, but we hope that it is not that bad.

September 20, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Tomorrow's Bahamas depends on today's Bahamian

tribune242 editorial

Nassau, Bahamas


TODAY WE hear so much about outsiders -- particularly Haitians--insinuating themselves into our society in such large numbers that they will eventually take over the country and push Bahamians into the background.

Before we consider the validity of that claim, let's take a moment to discover who Bahamians really are. Each and every one of us claims to be Bahamian. For example, The Tribune family is fourth generation Bahamian, entering into a sixth generation. Others go back much further than that, but together we all regard ourselves as native Bahamians. However, each of us has come to this country by a different route, at a different time and for different reasons.

When the forebears of today's Bahamians arrived they were foreigners. Many did not even speak the same language, some formed small communities and stayed to themselves, keeping their own language and history alive among their children. However, eventually after a generation or two they all meshed seamlessly into a society with which they identified and called their own. They are today's Bahamians.

None of us can trace our roots back to the Lucayans who Columbus found here when he put this small country on the map in 1492. And so none of us can claim to be the true original.

Wrote the late Dr Paul Albury in The Story of the Bahamas: "After the Lucayans were taken away to slavery and death, a human silence settled over the Bahamas. The forests once again claimed the land which they had cleared to build their houses, to grow their crops and to lay their batos. It was as if the Island People had never existed."

No matter how far back one goes in their lineage today no Bahamian can claim a link to a Lucayan. But we consider ourselves the real McCoy -- the true Bahamian.

Much history passed between then and the granting of these islands -- first to Sir Robert Heath in 1629 and later to the Eleutheran Adventurers in 1647. Eventually slavery was introduced.

With the passage of history, much of it filled with human tragedy, today's Bahamian and our mixed society was formed. This society's roots go way back into Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas -- almost every ethnic group is represented, including the Haitian -- but nowhere is the Lucayan to be found.

The reason that the Haitians have created such a problem for the Bahamas today is that they have arrived in such large numbers, and, other than their labour, and a willingness to learn, they have little to offer. They have even less to offer when so many of them are illegal and cannot fully participate in the society. Even Bahamians of Haitian heritage find their presence an embarrassing strain on our social services.

It is for this reason that the Haitian question should be high on the agenda after the next election. Those Haitians with jobs and family ties should be regularised so that they can contribute to the society in which they live by paying national insurance, opening bank accounts, being able to get a mortgage to purchase their own homes and generally do business in a normal way. Decisions have to be made about the future of children born here of Haitian parents, who attend school, know no other country, and think of themselves as Bahamians. They are in the same position in this country as were the forebears of each us at some stage of our personal history.

It depends upon how we treat them today as to what kind of citizens they will make tomorrow. If they are not assimilated into the society, then, yes, possibly as time passes they will take over.

Bahamians have fought long and hard for a unified society -- a One Bahamas. This is no time to fracture it further by introducing another equation of inequality for the future.

No one wants our children and grandchildren to have to face a new Bahamian with an inferiority complex, a chip on the shoulder or, one who is ready in every encounter to show a clenched fist and quietly plot an overthrown. One doesn't have to look too far around the world today to find examples of what could happen if we don't tread carefully in considering this human problem.

Therefore, the Haitian question has to be debated, carefully considered and solved as humanely as possible.

Really it is up to today's Bahamian as to what the future holds for tomorrow's Bahamas.

July 13, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Bahamian Politics Blog

Bahamas: Tracing the root of crime and murder in the Bahamian society

Tracing the root of a problem
thenassauguardian editorial


As the year 2010 comes to a close and as one reflects on all that the year had to offer, it’s hard to ignore the major problem that has affected the Bahamian society not just during 2010, but for the past few years.
That is the issue of crime and murder.

Like Rudolph’s red nose, the issues beam brightly, making them hard to ignore.

With over 90 murders recorded thus far for the year, already the country has set a new record in the amount of homicides within one year. And to think that there are still one more day to go before the end of the year. But even if the count does not reach 100, there is still nothing to celebrate, for already we have passed the mark.

As Bahamians look forward to 2011, they cannot help but wonder what the new year holds as far as crime is concerned. Will this new record of homicides committed in 2010 be broken again in 2011?

These once quiet island communities that were the envy and jewel of the Caribbean have now become a prison of fear for most Bahamians, as they listen to the murder count rise with each passing week.

The high rate of crime is evidence that all of the programs that have been put in place, and those that are being activated, are not having the kind of impact those who created them hoped they would have.

While some of the youth programs are having some positive impact, the effects are minimal and slow in taking place. Perhaps it seems that way because the news about crime becomes the main focus.

But the numbers speak for themselves.

The government is stumped about what exactly to do about crime in the country. They’ve watched most of the programs they’ve implemented fail and now they are between a rock and a hard place on what to do next.

The new murder record serves as a reminder of what 2010 was like and a grim prospect of what 2011 holds.

If the high murder rate and the increase in crime in the country is allowed to continue at the rate it has, eventually it will become more than just a big deal.

Like a former chief justice pointed out in a recent interview, crime will eventually affect everything within the country, including tourism and politics. If the government cannot get a handle on crime there will be no more Bahamas as we know it.

As the government, the police and all of the authorities necessary put their heads together to find solutions to crime, perhaps the best thing to do is find the cause.

Putting up Christmas lights brings an idea to mind. When a string of lights refuses to blink on, the only way to make them work is to find the one bulb that may be blown. In order to do that it may mean having to trace all of the wires to find the problem.

That is what needs to be done to get a handle on crime, trace the underlying reasons and causes for crime and begin there. With so many studies that have been done, perhaps now is the time to begin tracing the most immediate causes and begin the campaign to fight crime there.

The bottom line is unless something substantial is done to deal with the crime problem in this country, 2011, 2012 and the years that follow will only promise an even deeper spiral downward.

12/30/2010

thenassauguardian editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamas: Who will Care for The Autistic Members of The Bahamian Society?

Who will Care for The Autistic Members of Bahamian society?

By TANEKA THOMPSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
tthompson@tribunemedia.net:


Most parents fret about their children's future and safety until their offspring reach an age where they are capable of taking care of themselves. Parents are usually overcome with questions of "How are they going to manage when I am gone?" and "Who will take care of them?"

These concerns are born out of love and are generally a mark of a good, caring guardian. Most times these fears never materialise into reality and a parent can breathe a sigh of relief once the children are off to college or have landed good jobs. But think of how terrifying it is when the child is unable to care for themselves even after they are well past their teenage years.

For too many families of children with autism, this is a real concern with no solution on the horizon. Last week I came face to face with some of these parents' struggles during an autism awareness reception hosted by US Ambassador Nicole Avant in conjunction with local autism advocacy group REACH.

REACH was formed 12 years ago to provide a support network for parents of children with special needs and to increase awareness about autism. Since its inception, the group has also raised scholarship money to train Bahamian teachers to better serve autistic children.

The common link in many of those parents' lives is a deficit in adequate and affordable local treatment centres for autistic children and assisted living centres to house those children when they become adults.

"Currently there is one autistic primary school class at Garvin Tynes Primary and one high school class at Anatol Rodgers Secondary School. In the country there are only three therapists that work with the Ministry of Education and there is a very long waiting list.

"A lot of the (autistic) kids are growing older now and we need living assistance for them - we're not going to be here forever and after parents pass away there's a concern of who takes care of the kids," lamented Kim Gibson, public relations officer at REACH, and mother to a seven-year-old autistic son.

Opposition Leader and former Prime Minister Perry Christie - father of 22-year-old Adam, who also is autistic - echoed these sentiments during a recent interview with The Tribune. He added that while there have been notable advancements in special needs care over the last ten years or so, those improvements pale in comparison to what is left undone.

"Every parent's fear is, if they were to die what would happen to this child? That is the most common worry for parents of disabled children.

These parents are so committed to helping disabled children but they know that it doesn't necessarily mean a sibling or other relative will be as committed.

"That is where the state has to recognise that it has not yet put in place the kind of after care to address issues of that kind. Any government that comes to power has a commitment to address the issue but has to take a balanced approach to the allocation of resources so we are ensuring that these special persons get fair treatment.

"Sometimes they are overlooked and even though there is improvement (over the last few years) there is still more to be done," said Mr Christie.

According to American statistics, about one in every 110 children are autistic with boys three times as likely to be autistic than girls.

Local psychologist and autism specialist Dr Michelle Major, clinical director of the Seahorse Institute, thinks the condition is just as prevalent in the Bahamas.

"I don't think that they're that far off from what the national statistics are in the US to be honest with you. When we talk about the whole spectrum (of autism), I do feel that we are pretty much in the same area," said Dr Major when asked to compare Bahamian rates of autism to those in the States.

While autism numbers have grown in the United States over the past few years, something observers attribute to better detection methods, many afflicted children go undiagnosed here - either due to a lack of understanding about developmental disorders, a lack of trained doctors who can make a diagnosis, or because of the negative stigma attached to having a disability.

Dr Major has diagnosed autistic children from Abaco, Eleuthera and Long Island and says while resources are scarce in New Providence they are virtually non-existent in the family islands.

During his travels throughout the country, Mr Christie said he has encountered many children with disabilities who were not receiving proper treatment from state care facilities. He thinks this is because government agencies haven't canvassed the remote areas to identify persons with special needs.

"We have to recognise that some groups have done a lot to help. The Stapleton School (in New Providence) is tremendous asset to the country but I've always felt that we haven't done the kind of national audit that we need to find out in all of the remote areas of the Bahamas where these children are."

Those families who are fighting for social improvements for their autistic children will tell you that there is no simple solution to the myriad of problems they face every day: the stigma of having a differently abled child, the stares, lack of understanding, to the strain on their pocket books and marriages.

However, the parents, educators and physicians who tackle these problems head on and who have organised themselves without any prompting from any public agency deserve much more praise and all the help they can get. They stand as examples of good parenting, concerned and productive members of civil society.

August 23, 2010

tribune242