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
