Amnesty on Haitian Rights in the Bahamas

This week Amnesty International released its annual report on the state of human rights around the world. Below, I have posted a summary of the section of the report on the Bahamas that deals specifically with Haitian migrants.

Treatment of migrants has been a constant theme in Amnesty’s evaluation of The Bahamas. Its review of things that transpired in 2007 was no different.

"The authorities continued to deport migrants, the vast majority Haitians, in large numbers," the report noted of The Bahamas.

Amnesty reported specifically on the May 4 shooting of a Haitian migrant by a member of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force during an operation carried out in New Providence. It said the court found that there was no evidence that the man had resisted arrest and the Defence Force had no legal authority to conduct such an operation without immigration officers present.

The latest repatriation figures released from the Department of Immigration show a slight increase in the first four months of 2008 compared to the same period last year.

According to the statistics compiled, between January and April 2008, 2,388 Haitians were returned to their homeland compared to the 2,361 returned during the previous period.