The Bahamas Practice Ethnic Cleansing against Haitian Descendents
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The Perry Christie Bahamian government's new immigration policy is a barely concealed form of ethnic cleansing according to the Grand Bahamas Human Rights Association (GBHRA). It consists of a non-discriminatory process, in which immigration authorities conduct dragnets in the middle of the night in communities, in which large populations of Haitian descendents live. No effort is made to separate the innocent from the guilty until later, a blatant violation of human rights. GBHRA President Fred Smith charged the cattle-herding policy ". . . is unconstitutional . . . (and) they are breeding 'Haitian hatred', racism, and discrimination."
Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell dodged responsibility for his ministry's hand in the mass round-ups. Politics should play no part in this, nor should any polarization between the government and civil rights organizations exist, he added. The bottom line, he stressed, is the new immigration policy must be enforced to protect the borders.
GBHRA says human rights abuses against Haitians in the Bahamas go back over several years when other such raids have occurred. Detainees have been held for excessive periods of time in hostile and filthy environments. Legal citizens of Haitian descent have been stripped of their financial accounts; homes; possessions; employment; everything.
The new immigration policy is implementing new intimidation methods: home invasions, illegal roadblocks and checkpoints. According to Smith the tactics are effective ". . . some have abandoned their homes and even their children at the approach of the government's Gestapo squads"
Read more: Deportation, Bahamas, Illegal Immigration, Ethnic Cleansin, immigration
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