The international human rights organization that has maintained sustained scrutiny on the operations of the Carmichael Road Detention Centre is now calling for the government to immediately remove members of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force who are deployed to the external perimeter of the facility.
In a letter addressed to Immigration Minister Vincent Peet on Monday, Amnesty Internationalﾴs Deputy Director of the Americas Regional Program Kerrie Howard explained that the recommendation was based on the continued and serious allegations of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
Defence Force officers were alleged to have severely beaten and mistreated asylum seekers and other migrants who are held at the centre, but a police investigation into particular alleged incidents exposed in an Amnesty report in October were not corroborated.
Amnesty is maintaining its calls for an independent inquiry into conditions of detention for illegal migrants who are held at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.
But it also welcomed the independent investigation, the fact that the results were made public andthe indication that a management review is being undertaken.
ﾓAmnesty International would urge you, however, to broaden the scope of the review to include via an independent inquiry conditions of detention for asylum seekers and other migrants in The Bahamas and the refugee determination process,ﾒ noted the letter written by Kerrie Howard, deputy director of Amnestyﾴs Americas Regional Programme.
ﾓThe review should have the power to issue findings and make recommendations.ﾒ
The entire incident stems from Amnestyﾴs report to the government in October of this year which contained allegations of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and other matters regarding conditions of detention.
The allegations were related to alleged Cuban and Haitian detainees, who were said to have been severely beaten.
It had prompted the government to authorize a police investigation, the results of which were presented in the parliamentary report.
The day before Minister Peetﾴs report was presented to the House of Assembly, the Cubans were said to have executed an act of civil disobedience, refusing to eat their meals. Many of them had even complained to the Cuban Consul General to The Bahamas Felix Wilson that they preferred a diet that was more closely related to what they were accustomed.
The human rights advocates also urged the government to explore how to end the mandatory detention of unauthorized asylum seekers and migrants and the continued detention of children, asylum procedures and policy and the practice of the use of force and firearms.
There was also a call for the creation of a multi-disciplinary Inspectorate Body, independent of the government with the powers to undertake regular visits to the Carmichael Road Detention Centre and the training of officials in international human rights standards.
There were also some concerns expressed about the protection of complainants, witnesses, investigators and their families from violence, threats of violence and intimidation.
ﾓAppropriate measures should include for example, treating those reporting allegations of abuse in strict confidence; informing detainees and staff that they have a right to protection from retaliation and taking disciplinary and or legal action as appropriate against any member of staff who seeks to deter inmates and staff from reporting abuse or who in any manner harasses or intimidates inmates of staff who report abuse,ﾒ Mr. Howardﾴs letter noted.
There were continued concerns expressed about the detention of children, the provision of adequate food and water and medical care.
Minister Peet, in his report acknowledged an inadequate source of drinking water and had committed to having the system rectified.
Almost two weeks ago, the Carmichael Road Detention Centre was thrust into another controversial glare when there was a Cuban migrant incited uprising, according to authorities. It lead to an escape plot, one of the dormitories burned and a decision to have the Cuban migrants relocated to Her Majestyﾴs Prison, for the time being.
One of the three refugees who has escaped from the centre, Francisco Valdez, is still at large. Police authorities had begun exploring the possibility that Valdez might have left the country and have alerted their counterparts in North America.
In the weeks since this newest round of scrutiny over the detention of migrants here , there has also been several protests staged by Cuban Americans in Miami, Florida and other such interests in the U.S. have condemned the alleged mistreatment of detainees.
Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
