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Bahamian Politics Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM


GBHRA Pres. Fred Smith chastises the DNA over 'regressive' immigration stance
By Fred Smith - Grand Bahama Human Rights Association
Nov 27, 2014 - 11:26:31 PM

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The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) is being chastised for supporting the government’s harsh new immigration policy – a prominent human rights advocate saying the fledgling party is condoning regressive and dictatorial tendencies.

Smith, president of the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association (GBHRA), said anyone who supports the “illegal, immoral and unconstitutional” tactics being used by Immigration officers, including midnight raids and home invasions that terrorize communities, cannot also claim to represent progressive and enlightened ideas.

“The DNA styles itself as the party of the future,” Smith said. “In fact, with its support of the government’s Gestapo tactics when it comes to immigration enforcement, they are helping resurrect all the most viscous elements of the barbaric past – victimization, racism, tribalism, xenophobia, fear-mongering and discrimination.”

“This young party claims it wants to do away with politics as usual in The Bahamas. Actually, its actions tell another story; a story about how to whip up the worst prejudices in a society in order to increase your support base. It is a story as old as time – the PLP and FNM know all about it.”

Smith, one of the most prominent legal practitioners in The Bahamas, said he is particularly surprised at the attitude of DNA leader Branville McCartney, a fellow attorney, who he said should know better.

“The fact of the matter is, however one might feel about the problem of illegal immigration and its impact on The Bahamas, the government’s new policy directly violates our constitution, the supreme law of the land. As such the policy is illegal – end of story. I would expect support for this argument from any officer of the court who is worth his salt.

“As Mr. McCartney will be fully aware, the preamble of the constitution states emphatically that the preservation of freedom must be guaranteed by an abiding respect for Christian values and the rule of law.

“Article 15 of that constitution declares that every person – and not just Bahamian citizens or those who entered legally, but every single person within this jurisdiction – is entitled to those rights and freedoms, and to the protection of the law, regardless of that individual’s race, gender or place of origin.

“Such a person also enjoys constitutional protection for the privacy of his home and property, as well as from deprivation of that property.

“Raids in the dead of night are therefore illegal. Roadblocks are illegal. Demolishing people’s homes is illegal. The Limitation Act dictates that people who take adverse possession of property for over 12 years are entitled to own the property.

He noted that Article 17 of the constitution declares, "no person shall be subjected to torture or in human or degrading treatment or punishment”.

“So, even if the law provided for raids or arbitrary detention, or mandated a show of identification to prove status, etc., those laws must still be enforced in a way that is not dehumanizing or degrading. But in any event, as it stands today, a justification in law simply does not exist for what the Immigration Department is doing.

“People cannot just be stopped, detained and deported at the whim of the minister or director of immigration. For someone to be expelled, a deportation order must be signed and due process followed.”

Outlining due process according to the constitution, Smith said Article 19 [2] provides that “any person who is arrested or detained shall be informed in the language he understands for the reasons for his arrest and detention and shall be entitled to legal representation"

“Then, the constitution says, that person must be brought without undue delay before a court – not held in indefinite, Guantánamo Bay-style detention.

“And there is no law that provides that anyone is required to prove their legal status in the Bahamas. That is because Article 21 says every person is presumed to be innocent until he is proved or pleaded guilty.

“This is another reason why arbitrary roundups and checkpoints are illegal and unconstitutional.”

Smith, who has been at the forefront of the struggle to defend human rights in The Bahamas for more than 30 years, said these issues were already dealt with by the courts in a series of cases he successfully argued in the 1980s.

“For example, in Smith versus the Commissioner of Police (1984), I sued the government and got the Supreme Court to declare roadblocks unconstitutional. They should not be taking place to day – for immigration purposes, as part of the fight against crime, or for any other reason. Its as simple as that,” he said.

Smith explained that Article 25 (1) of the constitution declares that "except with his consent, no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of movement, and for the purposes of this article this Article freedom means the right to move freely throughout the Bahamas.”

He said: “This freedom of movement is not restricted only to persons who can prove they are legally in the Bahamas, it applies to each and every person in The Bahamas.”

Article 26, he noted, declares that "no law shall make any provision which is discriminatory”.

“When it comes to immigration issues, discriminatory here refers to affording different treatment to different persons attributable wholly or mainly to their place of origin,” he said.

According to Smith, the authorities do have lawful means of detaining suspected illegal immigrants, but often fail to do so at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner.

“Article 19 of the constitution says no person shall be deprived of his personal liberty save as maybe authorized by law. No person shall be deprived of his liberty except to prevent unlawful entry into the Bahamas.

“So they have every right to detain immigrants at the border, but because they have consistently failed to do their job for decades, for a variety of reasons, they now want to use that as an excuse to trample on fundamental rights. That is completely unacceptable,” he said.

“The GBHRA calls on the DNA to cease and desist from claiming it presents the Bahamian public with a real alternative to politics as usual – either that, or begin to back up these words with appropriate actions.

“All across the world, enlightened societies with serious illegal immigration problems have crafted more sensible, legal, fair and efficient policies. We can learn from these models, there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

“And if McCartney and his colleagues really care about the plight of ordinary Bahamians, as they so often say, they should keep this in mind: the government’s new draconian policy could push this country down a very slippery slope. Today the victims may be Haitian-Bahamians, tomorrow they could be any of us. The misuse of power, once legitimized, will always spread throughout a society.

“Already, they are talking about everyone in The Bahamas having to carry a certificate of identification to prove their entitlement to be here and prove they're not subject to being rounded up and carted off to a detention center. There was a time when The Bahamas was at the forefront of calling for an end to apartheid in South Africa. Now, we are copying that same nefarious model.

“Soon enough, we will begin to see more and more illegal roadblocks, more indiscriminate home invasions, including for reasons other than illegal immigration.

“Even as I speak, the government is flirting with the idea of Bahamians having to have a certificate from the value-added tax (VAT) authority before they can travel out of the country. Will there be checkpoints at the airports and harbors, where they‘ll pull your tax records up on a screen before letting you travel?

“The DNA should be joining its voice to those of the GBHRA and the rest of the human rights community to call for an end of this dangerous trend, rather than helping the government legitimate it.”





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