Growing Suspicion and National Doubt over The Bahamas Government Smuggling of Migrants Bill

 

Nassau, N.P., The Bahamas - Put that Smuggling of Migrants Bill on Hold!

HOLD THE BILL!!!

There are some questions emanating from the press release issued by the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in relation to the intention of the Government to debate and pass the "Smuggling of Migrants Bill".

In its own press statement the Government is quoted as saying, "The clause being circulated by Mr Bain deals with smuggled migrants as victims and witnesses of this crime.  It simply prevents a victim from being charged under this new anti-smuggling law for acts that arise directly from being smuggled, such as illegal entry of possession of a fraudulent document supplied by the smuggler".

There are a number of questions that begs a clear and concise answer considering that someone being smuggled may not to be the same as a person being trafficked.  According to The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR )"Human smuggling is when people called smugglers (sometimes referred to as "Coyotes"), help persons cross borders irregularly, typically with their consent, in return for money or other material benefit:

The UNHCR further defines Human Trafficking as the exploitation of people for profit such as forced labor or sexual exploitation".

So the Government needs to explain how can smuggled migrants qualify as victims and witnesses - as well as for short term humanitarian care, if by the UNHCR definition these individuals are typlically smuggled with "their"consent and usually by paying the smuggler money or by other material means?

So this begs the question, if the individuals being smuggled do not fall under the category as persons being kidnapped and trafficked to engage in forced labor and or for sexual exploitation, how do these individuals end up in a proposed Smuggling and Migrants bill in the Commonwealrh of The Bahamas as "Victims" and not "Criminals?

How will the Government determine from a boat or plane load of migrants who qualifies as smuggled persons (someone who paid to be brought to The Bahamas illegally) from trafficked persons (someone kidnapped and forced against their will)?

If the purpose of this bill is designed to put teeth into the law to punish smugglers, it cannot at the same time serve to exonrate those being smuggled as victims and witnesses, shielded from arrest and prosecution.  The probability is that both smuggled migrants and smuggler are on the same vessel for the same purpose.

The general understanding with these kinds of smuggling operations is the individuals desiring to be smuggled to a destination illegally, "pay" a smuggler to smuggle them to said destination.  This would mean that smuggled individuals are not victims, as nothing was done to them nor were they forced to make the journey.  Second the smuggled migrant is indeed a witnesses but a witnesses to a crime and a crime that they are more than likely an accessory to.

There appears to be a section in the bill under the heading "Immunity from prosecution of smuggled migrants" - that says in part "A smuggled migrant cannot be liable to criminal prosecution under this Act in respects of

(A) illegal entry into the receiving country

(B) remaining illegally in the receiving country or transit country or

(C) possessing a fraudulent or identity document

It would be important for the Government to confirm if the above is true and what is their true intent when it comes to these smuggled migrants.  There are many more questions.  I was informed that it was the intent of the Government to debate and pass this bill today, Wednesday December 3rd 2025 or by tomorrow Thursday December 4th 2025.

I would strongly recommend Director of Communications Latrae Rahming encourage the Government to put the brakes on debating and passing this bill until there can be wide spread national consultation and input by the Bahamian people including members of the legal fraternity, the Church and Civil Society.  I was just sent a copy of the bill and like many Bahamians, I have not had sufficient time to read it and I suspect neither have many other citizens.

Bills are comprised of serious legal language and the wrong language used in a bill could result in a wrong or devastating outcome.  Bills tabled in the House of Assembly usually become the law of the land and so every bill should include the correct language, which should be very clear.  However from the looks of things so far, this particular bill doesn't appear to be very clear and could open the door to suspicion and national doubtsuspicion and national doubt.  Just my thoughts.

Kevin Harris 

Wednesday December 3rd 2025

Source / Comment

....the Bahamian government's failure to prosecute a single human trafficking case – has led the Bahamas to be classified as a “Tier 2 Watch List” on the State Department’s 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report for the second year in a row

Us Alert On Trafficking



By DANA SMITH

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

THE alleged lack of “freedom of movement” for Chinese workers is an indication that human trafficking may be taking place at a large-scale construction site in the Bahamas, according to a new report from the US State Department.

This, among other factors – including the government failure to prosecute a single human trafficking case – has led the Bahamas to be classified as a “Tier 2 Watch List” on the State Department’s 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report for the second year in a row.

“Media outlets have reported that Chinese workers in a large-scale Chinese construction project in The Bahamas do not have freedom of movement – a human trafficking indicator,” the report said.

It does not specify what “large-scale Chinese construction project” it is referring to, but the Thomas A Robinson national stadium, the Baha Mar resort, the Chinese Embassy, and various road projects in the family islands could all be described as large-scale construction projects with employed Chinese workers.

When reached for comment, Baha Mar senior vice president of administration and external affairs, Robert Sands firmly stated that the US could not be referring to their project.

“It doesn’t apply to us because our persons have freedom of movement,” Mr Sands said, before pointing out: “Baha Mar is not the only construction project going on in The Bahamas where Chinese workers are employed.”

Representatives for the Chinese Embassy, meanwhile, could not be reached for comment up to press time.

The State Department’s report continued to describe the Bahamas as “a destination, source, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking”.

“Undocumented migrants, particularly the estimated 30,000 Haitians who largely arrive in The Bahamas voluntarily, are vulnerable to forced labour, especially in domestic servitude and in the agriculture sector,” it read. “Experts also have raised concerns that some workers from Jamaica could be vulnerable to involuntary servitude.”

Groups “especially vulnerable” to sex trafficking in the Bahamas include foreign citizens in prostitution and “local children engaging in sex with men” for basics such as food, transportation, or material goods, the State Department stated.

“The Government of The Bahamas does not comply fully with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so,” the report said. “Despite these efforts – most notably the establishment of a high-level interagency committee and continued statements of commitment to address human trafficking – the government has not identified or assisted any victims of trafficking or initiated any forced labour or sex trafficking prosecutions; therefore, The Bahamas is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for a second consecutive year.”

However, the State Department did name a “positive development” as the government’s March announcement of the establishment of a “working level interagency task force” set to handle “specific allegations of human trafficking and a protocol to guide officials in handling trafficking cases.”

The State Department also praised the government for holding a trafficking awareness event in March.

The entire Trafficking in Persons Report can be read online at the State Department’s official website – www.state.gov.

June 20, 2012

Tribune242

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