thebahamasweekly.com - Bahamas Initiates New Operational Procedures on Repatriation with Cuba

From:TheBahamasWeekly.com

Bahamas Information Services Updates
Bahamas Initiates New Operational Procedures on Repatriation with Cuba
By BIS
Oct 23, 2013 - 9:48:48 PM

Nassau, Bahamas - The following was delivered today, October 23rd in the House of Assembly by the Hon. Frederick Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, for the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Ambassador Soberón Guzmán,
Government Officials,
Members of the press,

We are here today to note the initiation of the new Operational Procedures for the return, from The Bahamas to Cuba, by sea or air, of irregular Cuban migrants by The Government of The Bahamas. A central challenge, with respect to repatriation of Cuban nationals, has been the bureaucracy, on the part of both Countries, which has bogged down the process.

An inter-agency delegation, led by Mr. Philip Miller, Acting Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Ministry, met with Cuban Officials at the First Technical Meeting on Migratory Issues between Cuba and The Bahamas on 2nd and 3rd September, 2013 in Havana, Cuba and, as an outcome of that Meeting, consensus was reached on new procedures to govern the repatriation of Cuban nationals.

The central objective of this agreement is to reduce the time for return of irregular Cuban migrants arriving in The Bahamas. Through strengthening the communication mechanisms between both of our Country’s maritime interdiction entities and placing concrete, time-bound commitments on both Countries, we expect to reduce the repatriation time for irregular Cuban migrants from the current situation, where migrants might remain in the detention Centre for months prior to repatriation, to repatriation within several weeks, at most. These procedures achieve this result whilst also maintaining the space for respecting our obligations to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which is to ensure the proper screening of migrants for political asylum.

While these procedures are a tangible solution to repatriation challenges facing both Governments, discussions will be ongoing between our two Governments to further work together on wider migratory issues. I thank the technical team of officials from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, Ministry of National Security, Attorney General’s Office, Department of Immigration and Foreign Ministry that assisted with negotiating these Procedures. We also thank the Cuban Government for their continued cooperation in this regard and we look forward to further dialogue and collaboration to solve our mutual challenges.