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Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the hands of traffickers

Published reports & articles from 2000 to 2025                                  gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Bahamas.htm

Commonwealth of the Bahamas

The Bahamas is one of the wealthiest Caribbean countries with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking. Tourism together with tourism-driven construction and manufacturing accounts for approximately 60% of GDP and directly or indirectly employs half of the archipelago's labor force. Steady growth in tourism receipts and a boom in construction of new hotels, resorts, and residences had led to solid GDP growth in recent years, but tourist arrivals have been on the decline since 2006 and will likely drop even further in 2009.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

Description: Bahamas

The Bahamas is a destination country for men and women trafficked from Haiti and other Caribbean countries primarily for the purpose of forced labor, and women from Jamaica and other countries trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. In situations that, for some workers, may constitute forced labor, employers coerce migrant or temporary workers -- legal and illegal -- to work longer hours, at lower pay, and in conditions not permitted under local labor law by changing the terms of contracts, withholding travel documents, refusing transportation back home, threatening to withdraw the employer-specific and employer-held permits, or to turn the employee over to immigration. For the past three years, The Bahamas was included in the Report as a Special Case due to limited data. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009   Check out a later country report here or the full TIP Report here

 

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the Bahamas.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of particular interest to you.  Would you like to write about Forced-Labor?  Debt Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc.  On the other hand, you might choose to include possible precursors of trafficking such as poverty. There is a lot to the subject of Trafficking.  Scan other countries as well.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

Teachers

Check out some of the Resources for Teachers attached to this website.

HELP for Victims

 

Bahamas Crisis Center
1 242 328 0922

 

*** FEATURED ARTICLE ***

Human Trafficking Concerns Persist

Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal, May 30, 2006

www.bahamasb2b.com/news/wmview.php?ArtID=8042

[accessed 22 July 2013]

The Bahamas is still in the early stages of developing a clear idea of the extent to which human trafficking goes on within its borders, but Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin believes some Bahamians may unknowingly be participants in human trafficking.

 

*** ARCHIVES ***

2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Bahamas

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 30 March 2021

www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/bahamas/

[accessed 11 May 2021]

PROHIBITION OF FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR

Irregular migrants were vulnerable to forced labor, especially among domestic employees, in the agricultural sector, and particularly in the outlying Family Islands. There were reports that migrant laborers, often of Haitian origin, were vulnerable to compulsory labor and suffered abuse at the hands of their employers, who were responsible for endorsing their work permits on an annual basis. Specifically, local sources indicated employers required migrant labor employees to “work off” the work permit fees, which increased during the year. The risk of losing the permit and the ability to work legally within the country was reportedly used as leverage for exploitation and created the potential for abuse.

PROHIBITION OF CHILD LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT

The law prohibits all of the worst forms of child labor. The law prohibits the employment of children younger than age 14 for industrial work and any work during school hours or between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The government did not have a list of jobs that are considered dangerous, although it intervened when children were performing permissible jobs in dangerous environments.

The government generally enforced the law effectively. The Department of Labour received no reports of significant violations of child labor laws.

Freedom House Country Report

2020 Edition

freedomhouse.org/country/bahamas/freedom-world/2020

[accessed 8 July 2020]

G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION?

The Bahamas is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children for forced labor and sexual exploitation. The government fully complies with minimum international standards to address the problem and has made significant efforts to prosecute traffickers. Migrant workers, many of whom arrive in the Bahamas to work in the agricultural sector and in domestic services, are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.

Gov’t To Bring Human Trafficking Bill

Vanessa C. Rolle, The Bahama Journal, June 20, 2007

www.jonesbahamas.com/?c=45&a=13065

[accessed 20 January 2011]

He said, "Such legislation would provide specific protections for trafficking victims. These are essential because only with those protections will victims feel comfortable coming forward to identify employers who may have victimized them and to assist in prosecution of traffickers."

Government Considers Human Trafficking Legislation

Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal, August 31, 2006

www.bahamasb2b.com/news/wmview.php?ArtID=8834

[accessed 22 July 2013]

In its analysis on The Bahamas, the IOM concluded that overall, findings indicate that while there are cases of trafficking in persons in The Bahamas, "in the strictest sense fulfilling all aspects of the legal definition of human trafficking, these are few."

"For instances, although irregular migrants may embark on their trip to The Bahamas voluntarily, the vulnerabilities that motivate them in doing so render them susceptible to exploitation in employment and living arrangements upon arrival in The Bahamas," the report read.

"In quantitative and qualitative terms, a picture emerges inferring that The Bahamas is fertile for facilitating the criminal activity of trafficking human beings."

Immigration Officials Call Human Trafficking Report “Exaggerated”

Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal, June 19, 2006

[accessed 22 July 2013]

The Bahamas Department of Immigration has weighing in on the ongoing human trafficking discussion, conceding that, "The Bahamas may be viewed as a transit nation unwittingly facilitating such criminal activity."

IOM Official Says Bahamas Not Ignoring Human Trafficking

Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal, June 13, 2006

[accessed 22 July 2013]

"I definitely believe that there are individual cases where persons have been trafficked and exploited in The Bahamas. We saw anecdotal evidence of that when we conducted our exploratory assessment," Ms. Garrett said.  "To then extrapolate that and quantify that on any grand scale, we wouldn’t be able to do, however,

US Envoy Says No Evidence Of Human Trafficking In Bahamas

Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal, June 12, 2006

[accessed 22 July 2013]

Mr. Rood said, "All we’re saying is that it may exist. All this report is saying is that we don’t know if there is a trafficking issue in the Bahamas, but there’s a potential for it and there’s a potential for it because of the large numbers of undocumented people in the country that don’t have legal standing here."

US Looks For Human Trafficking In Bahamas

Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal, June 12, 2006

www.bahamasb2b.com/news/wmview.php?ArtID=8124

[accessed 20 January 2011]

"All we’re saying is that it may exist. All this report is saying is that we don’t know if there is a trafficking issue in the Bahamas, but there’s a potential for it and there’s a potential for it because of the large numbers of undocumented people in the country that don’t have legal standing here."

Bahamas Yet To Ratify Human Trafficking Protocol

Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal, June 12, 2006

[accessed 22 July 2013]

The IOM says the protocol does create common ground for counter-trafficking activities, but "lacks any form of enforcement or monitoring mechanism, so it is difficult to gauge its real effect upon the actions of signatory countries."

Trafficking – a gateway into the sex trade

www.panosinst.org/productions/panoscope/trafficking_sextrade.php

[access date unavailable]

“The experience was terrible,” Denise said. “I would not go back and I would not tell even my worst enemy to go. I had sleepless nights. I cried night and day when I was there and prayed that I could get back my money so I could come back home.”

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 31 March 2005

www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/bahamas2005.html

[accessed 20 January 2011]

[61] The Committee notes that the State party has not yet ratified the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

The Protection Project - Bahamas [DOC]

The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), The Johns Hopkins University

www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/bahamas.doc

[accessed 2009]

FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Women and girls as young as 10 and 12 years of age are reportedly targets for sex tourism in the Bahamas Trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation is a growing concern in the entire Caribbean region. Children in the region are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, sex tourism, pornography, underage domestic labor, and trafficking.

*** EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE ***

2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 20 April 2018

www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2017/wha/277305.htm

[accessed 16 March 2019]

www.state.gov/reports/2017-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/the-bahamas/

[accessed 24 June 2019]

PROHIBITION OF FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR

Undocumented migrants were vulnerable to forced labor, especially in domestic servitude and in the agriculture sector, and particularly in the outlying Family Islands. There were reports that noncitizen laborers, often of Haitian origin, were vulnerable to compulsory labor and suffered abuses at the hands of their employers, who were responsible for endorsing their work permits on an annual basis. Specifically, local sources indicated that employers required noncitizen employees to ‘work off’ the work permit fees, which ranged from B$750 ($750) to B$1,500 ($1,500) for unskilled and semiskilled workers. The risk of losing the permit and the ability to work legally within the country was reportedly used as leverage for exploitation and potential abuse.

Human Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61714.htm

[accessed 6 February 2020]

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONSAlthough there are no laws that specifically address trafficking in persons, the law prohibits prostitution and the procurement of persons for purposes of prostitution either in or outside the country by force, threats, intimidation, or the administering of drugs.

There were no specific reports that persons were trafficked within, to, or from the country, but concerns were increasing.

The lack of a legal prohibition may have obscured trafficking within the vulnerable illegal migrant communities. In June the International Organization of Migration (IOM) issued a report on human trafficking suggesting a link between irregular migration and forced labor for domestic servitude, agriculture, and construction. In March IOM hosted an anti-trafficking meeting and training that included government and civil society participants.

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