Bahamas government defends position on refugees and asylum

NASSAU, Bahamas, May 2, CMC – The Bahamas government has defended its asylum and refugee policy in light of recent criticism from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that they should not be detained or punished for unlawfully entering a country.

“The only thing I will say to that is that it appears to me that they do not fully understand the process in the first place when they make such a statement. That’s all I will say. It’s apparent to me that they don’t understand the process,” Immigration Minister Keith Bell said.

“I don’t want to say too much at this stage now because it’s something obviously which is under review and at the appropriate time a statement would be issued,” he added.

The UNHCR has urged Nassau not to detain asylum-seekers and to find alternative ways of accommodating them.

In a report it said that the government should detain asylum-seekers and refugees only under “circumstances where it is necessary, reasonable, and proportionate to the legitimate purpose achieved and justified by international law”.

But Bell said its “apparent to me from their statements that they do not fully appreciate the entire process, the entire process when persons come to The Bahamas through illegal means and claim one form or the other of some sort of status. They obviously don’t understand.”

Bell said the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country had signed the the United Nations Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1993 “and there are certain obligations thereunder, but nevertheless, it isn’t something that this government is prepared to look at right now, for us to entertain”.

In 2021, seven asylum-seekers sued the government over their detention, including a mother separated from her young child for over a year. The Cameroonians had fled their African country fearing persecution.  But they were kept at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre from May 2019 and were released in April 2021.

Bell said that it is unclear whether there are currently asylum-seekers detained here and that he is certain there are none at the Detention Centre in a similar position to the Cameroon nationals.

“There is a whole lot that goes into ensuring that when persons come into this country through illegal means, irregular means, that we do our due diligence to ensure that we protect the national interest and security of this country and our people,” he said.

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