The Bahamas government has taken issue with the reports of the United States and Amnesty International on human rights issues in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
The Perry Christie government in separate statements said that it is preparing an official response and intends to issue a “formal protest’ on the matter.
The government said that prior to the release of the US State Department’s 2016 report on human rights in The Bahamas, the government spoke with representatives of the United States government prior to the release of the report on human rights in the Bahamas.
“During those conversations, it was made clear to the US that the proposed report contained significant inaccurate information with no basis in fact and in some cases incomplete information.
“Now that the US report has been publically released, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Immigration is preparing an official response from The Bahamas Government and intends to issue a formal protest in this regard.”
In the report, Washington noted that on July 8, last year, a foreign citizen reported he had been beaten by two or more corrections officers at the Bahamas Department of Corrections (BDOC).
He said that following an altercation with an inmate, prison guards placed him in handcuffs, bent him over a cart, beat him with a PVC plumbing pipe wrapped in duct tape, and then took him back to his cell without providing any medical attention.
The report also indicated that a migrant held in the immigration detention center in Freeport alleged unprompted, regular beatings from the guards, as well as inappropriate sexual behaviour toward female detainees.
The report noted that inmates reported receiving only two meals per day, and often only one, with a meal sometimes consisting only of bread and tea.
Regarding the 2016-17 Amnesty International report, the London-based human rights group criticised Nassau for its ““discriminatory” posture towards lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and for the country’s constitutional referendum on gender equality.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the “government takes no acts to discriminate against people based on their orientation, race, colour, creed, gender or religion.
“The Bahamas Government shows that it is an equal opportunity protector of all citizens and residents of this country. In addition, the Government takes all appropriate steps to ensure that its citizens of whatever description are safe.
“It is unfortunate, even in countries which are strong democracies with good human rights records, when there are public views espoused that are discriminatory. Nevertheless, The Bahamas Government is firmly committed to the protection of all its citizens.
On the question of right to privacy of citizens, the Bahamas government said it wanted to reiterate “without qualification there is no threat to privacy in the Bahamas.
“The reports of any such threat are entirely misplaced.,” it added.
