Amnesty International has scrutinized the human rights record of The Bahamas, drawing attention to the reported instances of police and prison brutality, claiming that asylum seekers continued to have their rights trampled and pointing to the death sentences that were imposed in 2004.
In its 2005 report released this week, the international human rights group said governments are betraying their promise of world order based on human rights and are instead pursuing a dangerous new agenda.
The dismal assessment of global human rights sought to prick the world’s conscience.
According to the document, Amnesty International was also not pleased with The Bahamas’ human rights record.
“Instances of brutality by police and prison staff were reported,” the report noted. “Asylum seekers were deported without access to adequate asylum procedures. Death sentences were imposed; no executions were carried out.”
The concerns disclosed this year were similar to the ones that were reiterated in the 2004 report.
The group took particular note that at the end of 2004, there were at least 26 persons on death row. It also referred to a Court of Appeal ruling in July that found Ricardo Lockhart’s 2003 murder conviction was unsatisfactory and unsafe and substituted a conviction for manslaughter, commuting his death sentence to a prison term of 25 years.
According to AI, conditions at Her Majesty’s Prison, Fox Hill remained poor, with concerns including inadequate sanitation, food, water and medical care and some instances of ill-treatment.
Once again the group focused the spotlight on refugees from Haiti and Cuba who were reportedly forcibly returned without access to a full and fair refugee determination procedure, in violation of international law.
Bahamas government officials have vigorously defended the country’s human rights record. The report made no mention of the strides that have been made to transform the penitentiary at Fox Hill into a rehabilitative facility and the plans to address overcrowding.
Several months ago the man who headed the government appointed Prison Reform Commission, criminologist Dr. Elliston Rahming, was made the new Superintendent of Prisons.
Since then, he has gone into detail about the plans to address deficiencies through a series of measures that include a new central intake facility and a new inmate classification system that has been implemented, among other things.
“There were reports of inadequate medical attention, food and water at the Carmichael Detention Centre. At least five children were detained in violation of international standards,” Amnesty’s report said.
Over the years, AI has been particularly critical of the conditions under which migrants are held and the process under which they are scrutinized.
Former Prison Superintendent Edwin Culmer now heads the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, the holding facility for those asylum seekers.
In its 2004 report, AI blasted alleged beatings and sexual abuse of refugees at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, a claim that was strenuously denied.
Back then, according to AI, there were claims that some detainees had been beaten with batons and tamarind branches. Others alleged that they had been forced to sit in the hot midday sun for extended periods and a 2003 report charged that two female detainees had been raped.
Additionally, the report mentioned that last October, several Haitian and Cuban detainees were reportedly beaten at the detention centre.
But in a report of a police investigation into the allegations that was presented to parliament in December, the Minister of Labour and Immigration Vincent Peet said there was no evidence to substantiate the claims.
The document also referred to the December 9 incident in which at least nine detainees and 11 guards were injured during a fire and confrontation at the centre.
By: Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
