Stakeholder Summary >> Bahamas, Review Documentation, 29th Session, January 2018

Implementations

• National Report

  Para 27) The Government is currently reviewing draft legislation to improve the provisions of law in several areas including the following: … • With aim to resolve the issue of inequality, The Bahamas, via the ‘Nationality Bill 2022’, is attempting to advance appropriate legislation to bring equality to Bahamian men and women in the transmission of citizenship to their children. The advancement of this legislation has been delayed until the ruling of the Privy Council10 on nationality issues in The Bahamas. The proposed Bill seeks to fix all inequalities, particularly by promoting gender equality through the provision of a mechanism whereby the minor child of a Bahamian male or female, wherever born, in or out of wedlock, will be entitled to be registered as a Bahamian upon application by the parent(s). Para 63) … Having ratified Convention 190 in December 2022, the ILRU is now in the foundational stages of implementing a Gender Desk, which will assist the community with the implementation of standards and policies to protect the rights of women and men in the workplace. Para 80) Civics is implemented in all public high schools and is taught once per week. It is a mandatory subject in order for high school students to obtain the National High School Diploma. Topics covered include … women’s rights … Para 81) Bahamian women continue to make a positive impact on international human rights. The first Bahamian candidate nominated to serve on the CEDAW Committee was re-elected in 2020 and recently elected as Vice Chairperson and Rapporteur of the Committee in 2023. A Bahamian woman was also appointed as Independent Expert Member of the UN Permanent Forum of People of African Descent. There was also a Bahamian woman elected to the HRC Advisory Committee, who also represents the first person from the Caribbean to serve in that position. Para 93) In February 2022, the Government, in partnership with UN Women, hosted a National Discriminatory Law Review Forum, which contributed to the formulation of new public policies and a Plan of Action. In view of strengthening legal and policy frameworks, the Forum facilitated discussion on recommendations for measures to address the absence of specific legislation as well as potential amendments to existing laws to ensure further equality for women and girls. Para 94) Attended by Parliamentarians, representatives from almost 35 Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) also participated. Para 137) The Bahamas’ election to the HRC for the term 2019-2021 represented the first Member State of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to the body. The country’s membership provided the unique opportunity to demonstrate the country’s commitment to human rights while bringing increased diversity to the international discourse on global human rights issues such as women … Para 138) The Bahamas consistently cosponsors and supports a number of resolutions of the HRC, including those relating to … women and girls,

  National Report

  Link to Bahamas National Report

  Stakeholder Summary

  Para 37) JS1 reported that the Bahamas was plagued by gender-based violence which took various forms, including … lack of safeguards to protect against violence and discrimination. Para 41) JS1 underlined that there were frequent reports of missing girls on the Bahamas but the general response from the public was apathy alongside the belief that the girls were “bad” and had willingly absconded with men, despite the girls’ age and that they were unable to consent before the age of 16. Para 44) JS3 highlighted that, in the case of adoption of a child who was not a Bahamian national, the Nationality Act discriminated against women in cases of joint adoption, with Bahamian nationality acquired through the paternal line only. Para 54) On nationality, JS3 stressed that gender discrimination in the laws and policies of the Bahamas pertaining to nationality undermined women and men’s equal citizenship and their equality in the family – reinforcing and contributing to gender-discriminatory social norms – while also contributing to gender-based violence, which was rooted in women’s unequal status in society. Women’s unequal ability to confer nationality on their children had been linked with heightened obstacles to women extracting themselves from abusive relationships, while women and girls who lack nationality in their country of residence were at increased risk of child marriage and human trafficking. Para 55) JS3 underlined that, according to the Bahamian Constitution, Bahamian men and women did not have an equal right to confer nationality on their children, in accordance with principles and standards set out in multiple international human rights instruments. JS1 added that Bahamian women married to non-Bahamian spouses did not automatically confer citizenship on their children born outside of the Bahamas while Bahamian men had this right automatically. In addition, Bahamian women also did not confer citizenship to their husbands while the spouses of Bahamian men had the right to apply. JS1 reported that these inequalities in nationality rights were destructive to families, limited opportunities, particularly for women who might wish to return to the Bahamas and could increase the number of stateless children. Para 56) JS3 indicated that women were also discriminated against in the transmission of their nationality to their spouse as per article 10 of the Constitution. Para 58) The IACHR welcomed the Court of Appeals’ judgment of June 21, 2021, which upheld the Supreme Court’s judgment of May 2020, allowing children born in the Bahamas to acquire nationality upon birth when one of their parents was Bahamian, regardless of the parents’ marital status. JS3 recalled that, in March 2021, the Bahamian Court of Appeal re-affirmed a Supreme Court ruling on the interpretation of Article 6 of the Constitution confirming that this article should be interpreted as meaning that all children born in the Bahamas to a Bahamian parent should automatically acquire nationality at birth – regardless of marital status of the parents. JS3 also underlined that the Government indicated its intention to appeal the ruling to the Privy Council.

  Stakeholder Summary

  Link to Bahamas Stakeholder Summary

  UN Compilation

  Link to Bahamas UN Compilation

  UN Compilation

  Para 8) The Special Rapporteur on violence against women reported that neither the principle of equality between women and men nor the prohibition of sex-based discrimination were enshrined in national legislation. She indicated that article 26 of the Constitution of the Bahamas did not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and was in contradiction with article 15 of the Constitution, which was interpreted in a manner that allowed formal legal discrimination against women. The absence of a provision on equality between women and men enshrined in the Constitution and the Government’s reservations to the CEDAW were a serious concern with regard to the domestic legislative framework. The Special Rapporteur deeply regretted that the two constitutional referendums aimed at ending gender inequality that were held in the previous decade had been rejected by voters. Para 20) CEDAW expressed concern that section 50 of the Marriage Act provided for a minimum marriage age of 15 years and allowed for exceptions to be granted for marriages involving those as young as 13–15 years of age. Para 21) [CEDAW] remained concerned that there were no legal provisions governing de facto unions, which might deny women protection and redress in cases of separation. Para 22) [CEDAW] expressed concern about the little progress made in the creation of a unified court system and the establishment of a family court. Para 39) [CEDAW] remained deeply concerned about the persistence of deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes and discriminatory stereotypes concerning the roles and responsibilities of women and men in the family and in society. It highlighted that stereotypes were also the root causes of violence against women and expressed concern at the fact that the Bahamas had not taken sustained measures to modify or eliminate discriminatory stereotypes against women. Para 61) The Special Rapporteur on violence against women indicated that many migrant women and women of Haitian descent lived in poor and densely populated shanty towns, where they were confronted with an array of challenges, including discrimination on the grounds of gender and ethnic origin. In addition to the discrimination they faced, many did not have identity documents or national passports, which hampered their ability to obtain work or housing. Para 63) UNHCR underscored that nationality in the Bahamas was acquired according to the principle of jus sanguinis, although the Constitution made different provisions for how Bahamian men and women conferred citizenship to a child born abroad or to a foreign spouse. The Bahamas was one of two countries in the Western hemisphere that discriminated on the basis of gender in its nationality laws. … UNHCR recognized the efforts made by the Government of the Bahamas to put an end to the issue of inequality on citizenship transmission in the country. Para 66) The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed the court ruling, made in May 2020, regarding the country’s citizenship laws as a positive step towards promoting gender equality and reducing statelessness. The Supreme Court had ruled that anyone born in the Bahamas was entitled to citizenship at birth if at least one of their parents was a citizen of the country, irrespective of whether the parents were married. The High Commissioner encouraged the Government to build on that ruling and to take the necessary legislative, policy and procedural steps to eliminate discrimination on the basis of gender in the nationality laws.