This update covers developments related to the freedoms of association and peaceful assembly between 1st November 2024 and 31st March 2025.
GENERAL
Parliamentary Human Rights Committee slow to start; marital rape bill won’t progress
The civil society organisation Human Rights Bahamas deplores the fact that not enough work is being done to improve the human rights situation in the country.
On 3rd January 2025, the organisation expressed concerns that the recently established parliamentary Human Rights Committee, composed of members of the House of Assembly and of the Senate, had not yet started its work. According to their statement, “As we head into 2025, several serious human rights challenges remain faced by the Bahamian public. These include violations of labor and workplace rights; police brutality; arbitrary arrests and detentions; and inhumane prison conditions, among many others”.
On 31st January 2025, the Attorney General Ryan Pinder admitted that it is unlikely that legislation to criminalise marital rape will come this term. Groups such as Equality Bahamas and Human Rights Bahamas criticised this failure to move forward on this issue, failing women and disregarding the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which The Bahamas ratified in 1993. Women’s rights activists saw this inaction “as a betrayal of commitments to fighting gender-based violence”.
ASSOCIATION
Supreme Court’s injunctions halt strikes
On 18th December 2024, industrial action was conducted by Bahamasair’s Union, with 12 of 16 flight attendants calling in sick, impacting flight operations. Workers claim incremental payments are due on their salaries.
Bahamasair filed an injunction against the Airport Airline & Allied Workers Union (AAAWU) and obtained an order from the the Supreme Court of the Bahamas on 18th December 2024 that workers must return to work.
Two weeks later, the Government used the same tactic. On 14th January 2025, after two days of industrial action by doctors, nurses and air traffic controllers, the Supreme Court issued a temporary court injunction ordering all doctors, nurses and air traffic controllers back to work before all parties appear before the Supreme Court on 28th January 2025. The Public Hospitals Authority (PHA), the Attorney General, the Minister of Labour and the Public Service, the Minister of Health and Wellness and the Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation had requested this order against members of the Bahamas Air Traffic Controllers Union, the Bahamas Doctors Union, Consultant Physician Staff Association (CPSA) and Bahamas Doctors Union (BDU).
The Court ordered that members of these unions be “restrained (…) from taking part in any strike activity or any form of industrial action” against their employer or be “held in contempt of court” and exposed to potential fines and jail time if they did not return to work. Workers were also forbidden to incite others to stop working or to impede persons from working.
ASSEMBLY
Opposition party supporters protest over House speaker decision not to allow discussion on police corruption and on subsequent suspension of opposition deputy leader
On 4th December 2024, dozens of supporters of the Free National Movement opposition party gathered outside parliament to express their anger about the allegations of corruption among members of the police force, who face indictment on drug trafficking charges and the fact that the opposition leader had not been allowed to speak in Parliament.
Inside Parliament, following a heated debate, a melee was sparked when the House speaker, Ms Deveaux, refused to allow Opposition Leader Michael Pintard to address the allegations contained in a US indictment accusing police of involvement in drug trafficking. The deputy leader of the main opposition party Free National Movement (FNM), Shanendon Cartwright, threw the mace out of a Parliament window. Cartwright was restrained by police and officials following the incident. The parliamentary session was suspended.
On 10th December 2024, a few demonstrators protested again around Prime Minister Philip Davis as he was arriving at the Fox Hill Community Centre.