Rights Bahamas agitates for respect by the Bahamian Government of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the fundamental rights and freedoms set forth in the
Constitution of the Bahamas.
Statelessness
The constitutions of The Bahamas and Haiti both allow the phenomenon known as
statelessness to occur. Haitian born migrants in The Bahamas who were not naturalized,
their foreign born children inherit Haitian citizenship at birth. However, the offspring of
second generation Haitians do not.
Under Title II, Section 10 of the Haitian Constitution, “T
he regulations governing H
aitian
nationality shall be determined by law.” In Section 11 it further elaborates, “ A
ny person
born of a Haitian father or Haitian mother who are themselves native-born Haitians and
have never renounced their nationality possesses Haitian nationality at the time of birth.”
The Haitian constitution originally written in French has been amended a total of 23 times.
Due to this, there is a translation loophole in the Haitian constitution that the Bahamian
government uses to prevent further national discussion on the issue of granting citizenship
to Bahamian born persons of Haitian descent at birth.
Children are most affected by this and under the Convention on the Rights of the Child the
ripple effects are considered to be a gross neglect of their human rights. Most often than
not, stateless children go through their entire childhood without a legal document besides
their birth certificate. This sole document is not enough. As a result of their lack of proper
documentation it prevents them from being able to access education. Even if they
somehow managed to get into an elementary, middle or high school, their inability to
provide required documentation at registration prevents them from accessing tertiary level
education.
As was the case with Jan Pierre and her 11 year old son who was denied access to
education for three consecutive years because of The Bahamas’ immigration policy.
Her son, a Haitaian born in The Bahamas was unable to secure a Belonger’s permit
due to his mother’s status as a non citizen, to be able to register for school.
2