rrolle@tribunemedia.net
IN response to claims that seven asylum seekers who sought to take refuge in The Bahamas after fleeing Cameroon because of persecution fears were illegally detained, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that the government is satisfied that the rights of detainees have not been violated.
The ministry also said the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered the repatriation of detainees to their home countries as well as the processing of asylum seekers.
Human Rights Bahamas, in a statement to The Tribune last week, claimed the asylum seekers were not charged with nor convicted of a crime in this country and there was no legal justification for holding them indefinitely. The watchdog group said all of the asylum seekers were interviewed by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) and are in the process of having their political refugee status officially confirmed.