Nassau, Bahamas -
The following is a statement by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs for the Commonwealth of The Bahamas:
There were a number
of media outlets who published reports attributed to the Haitian
President saying that there are stateless people of Haitian descent in
The Bahamas.
As The Bahamas
government understands the law of Haiti, the child of Haitian born
anywhere is Haitian at birth. This would mean therefore that the
children of Haitian parents born in The Bahamas are not stateless and
our law requires those persons to obtain a Haitian passport and a
residence permit since at birth they are not Bahamian.
We have indicated
to the Haitian authorities here, however, that if they are aware of any
cases of statelessness of people of Haitian descent, then The Bahamas
will fulfill its legal obligations in international law and in the law
of The Bahamas to regularize their status. To date, no application
has been advanced by or on behalf of anyone of Haitian descent who is
stateless.
