The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE country’s “restrictive” immigration policy was again highlighted along with calls for a national assessment and action plan to combat human trafficking in a recent United Nations Human Rights Council report.

Gaps in both human capacity and mandate prevent labour inspectors from ensuring compliance with labour standards, and ultimately assist in the identification of trafficked persons or potential victims, according to UN Special Rapporteur Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, who recently concluded findings from her inaugural visit to the country last year.

Her report outlined recommendations to strengthen international and national framework; identification, training and capacity-building; support services; prosecution; and prevention.

The report read: “While acknowledging the government’s efforts to raise awareness, prevention is still at an early stage. The general population and civil society remain unaware of both the issue of trafficking and the government action taken to combat and prevent it.

“Existing tools, such as the hotline to report vulnerable or endangered women and children, need to be advertised further, and awareness of the different activities undertaken by the government to tackle the issue should be raised in order to mobilise and ensure partnerships with grassroots organisations that may come in direct contact with potential victims of trafficking. “

Ms Ezeilo, the UN’s first independent expert to visit the country, was invited by the government in December to assess the state of trafficking in women, men and children in the Bahamas. 

She presented her final observations and recommendations on the country’s responses to counter trafficking in persons and the protection of the human rights of its victims, in her final report to the UN Human Rights Council last month.

The report read: “The country lacks a comprehensive assessment of the trends and scope of trafficking, and victims are rarely identified or referred to assistance programmes. The restrictive immigration policy leading to the government’s rapid deportation of migrants, who arrive mainly by boat, especially from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, informed by existing memorandums of understanding with the countries involved, may lead to the arrest, detention and deportation of potential victims of trafficking without providing the opportunity for identification and assistance.”

It continued: “While the government has started to incorporate information on human trafficking into the regular training curriculum of the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, there is an urgent need to scale this up and continually enhance the knowledge and skills of those front-line officers to identify and protect trafficked persons.”

During her three-day visit last year, Ms Ezeilo expressed fears over the high risk of trafficking victims being criminalised due to rapid processing and repatriation of illegal migrants.

At a press conference following her visit, Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell downplayed fears, adding that the government had to deal with a “delicate balancing act” to ensure adherence to international requirements within the realm of available resources.

The independent trafficking expert had high-level meetings with government officials in New Providence and Grand Bahama, including the government’s task force and national committee. Ms Ezeilo also visited migrant detention centres.

Ms Ezeilo’s report supports concerns raised in this year’s Trafficking in Persons Report by the US State Department.

The 2014 State Department’s TIP report praised the country’s first trafficking conviction; however, the Bahamas retained its Tier Two ranking.

The Bahamas was upgraded from Tier Two Watch to a Tier Two status – having been listed as a Tier Two Watch country since 2011.

The 2014 report highlighted anecdotal reports of non-migrant US and Chinese workers, who had their passports taken and access restricted, also adding that migrant workers, particularly Haitians, were vulnerable to involuntary servitude in the Bahamas.