In carrying out its responsibility for the security and safety of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the Ministry of National Security is involved with a number of institutions through State Membership in regional and international multilateral organizations. The matters with which the Ministry is involved with internationally generally relate to:  the United Nations and the United States.

United Nations

The Bahamas has state membership in the United Nations and this enables the Ministry of National Security to participate and become party to institutions that focus on crime, security, trafficking in illicit drugs, illegal migration, human trafficking and other criminal activities. The institutions within the United Nations that the Ministry is engaged with include:

1. United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC)

The United Nations Office on Drug and Crime was established to implement the Organizations drug programme and crime programme in an integrated manner, addressing the interrelated issues of drug control, crime prevention and international terrorism in the context of sustainable development and human security.

Representatives from the Ministry of National Security and its agencies have participated in a number of workshops and conferences sponsored by UNODC including:

• The UNODC Ministerial Conference held in Santo Domingo from 17-20 February, 2010, which was attended by the Honourable Minister of National Security.
• The Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice sponsored by the UNODC in April 2010, which was held in Salvador, Brazil, under the theme, “Comprehensive strategies for global challenges: crime prevention and criminal justice systems and their development in a changing world”.
• The Workshop on Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear and Maritime Terrorism held 24-26 November, 2010 in Bridgetown, Barbados, which was organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in collaboration with the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism of the OAS.

2. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) is the United Nations Agency that is responsible for the safety and well-being of refugees as well as asylum seekers, stateless persons and persons displaced due to conflict within their own countries.  In the Caribbean context, these refugees can be difficult to identify since they often travel in mixed migratory movements among larger groups of migrants. Among these migratory groups may be criminals who would need to be identified and removed.

UNHCR works with Governments to help them respond appropriately to refugee and/or mixed migratory situations that they face. UNHCR also works along with the relevant government agencies to provide the necessary training for law enforcement officers who come into direct contact with these groups.

UNHCR’s relations with the Ministry of National Security would be, among other things, focused on the problems that asylum seekers by boat face and on what could be done to assist with persons of concern to the Bahamas. UNHCR has also sponsored training programmes for the law enforcement agencies in The Bahamas.  The Ministry has participated in some of these training activities.

3. United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament, and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-LIREC)

Located in Lima, Peru, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-LiREC) was established in 1986 as the regional organ of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs’s Regional Disarmament Branch.  UN-LiRec seeks to advance the cause of practical disarmament in Latin America and the Caribbean as part of its commitment to support member states in the implementation of international disarmament instruments.

The Centre seeks to address public security challenges by strengthening local and national capacities in order to tackle micro and macro challenges in dealing with increasing armed violence and crime as well as enhancing States’ abilities to build national capacities and mechanisms to effectively implement disarmament international, regional, sub-regional and national instruments and measures.

One of UN-LiREC’s key activities is to promote the implementation of the 2001 UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all of its aspects.

UN-LiREC’s Public Security Programme assists member states in their efforts in implementing the United Nations POA, through legal assistance, law enforcement training to combat illicit  firearms and technical support to states in the area of firearms stockpile management and destruction.

In 2009, UN-LiREC launched the Firearms Stockpile Management and Destruction Assistance Package for Caribbean States. The Assistance Package for Caribbean States Represents a practical disarmament measure aimed at decreasing the number of illegal firearms in circulation and reducing instances of armed violence, as well as ensuring adherence to firearms storage safety practices. The Bahamas, among other Caribbean Countries, requested the Assistance Package.  The position with respect to the request is outlined below:

• Weapons destruction and stockpile management equipment. UNLIREC is in the process of procuring for the Government of The Bahamas, hydraulic shears for weapons destruction and international standard padlocks with fittings to secure stockpile facilities for the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.  The equipment should be available for delivery in 2012. The equipment will also include United Nations international standard operating procedures that the Government of The Bahamas can take and integrate into national procedures.
• Law enforcement training.  Plans are to host along with the Bahamas Government UNLIREC’s flagship law enforcement IITC training course for the Caribbean region for approximately 60 officials from the English-speaking Caribbean, the majority of which will be from Bahamian Government agencies.

United States of America (USA)

The Government of The Bahamas has always enjoyed a longstanding beneficial relationship with the USA. The presence of the US Embassy in The Bahamas enables the Ministry of National Security to become involved in programmes relating to the  combating of drug trafficking, human trafficking and smuggling, intelligence sharing and training opportunities.

Officers from the Royal Bahamas Police and Defence Forces have benefited from training programmes offered by the United States Office of Defence through the Embassy.  Many of the officers have been exposed to the technologies being used to deal with crime and enhance security within the hemisphere.  The United States is allowed to patrol Bahamian waters, as long as personnel from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force is on board their vessel.

This arrangement has led to the interdiction of many persons involved in the trafficking of illicit drugs, poaching in Bahamian waters and persons attempting to flee their homeland.

1. Trafficking in Persons

The Bahamas is party to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which was adopted by the General Assembly in November 2000 and came into force in September 2003.  The Protocol supplementing this convention came into force in December 2003, “Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children”.   The Bahamas signed the Convention and Protocol in April 2001 and ratified them in September 2008.

The Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air governs the matter of migrant smuggling (Migrant Smuggling Protocol).  

The Bahamas enacted the, Trafficking in Persons (Prevention and Suppression Act) 2008, as one of its initiatives to satisfy its obligations under the United Nations Protocol.

2. U. S. Annual Trafficking in Persons Report

The United States publishes an annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP), in which every country is analyzed, including the United States, and receives a rating, in tiers from 1-3, according to their efforts to counter human trafficking during the year.  Governments provide the primary source of information incorporated into the report.  

In January of each year, United States Representatives visit countries to obtain input for the report.  The Ministry of National Security is one of the Ministries that is visited and requested to provide responses to questions. The Bahamas has been rated a Tier 2 Country. The Tier 2 rating is given to Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the standards but are making significant efforts to do so.

The Government of The Bahamas passed the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention and Suppression Act) 2008, which provides for, among other things, the development of a plan for the provision of appropriate services for victims of trafficking.

The specific functions of the Minister of National Security with respect to Human Trafficking contained in Part IV Section 20; and Sections 12 (3) and 16 of the Act.

Senior staff at the Ministry of National Security and its law enforcement agencies have participated in a number of conferences and workshops sponsored by the United States Embassy to sensitize officers, inter alia, to the issues of trafficking in persons; and, how it differs from human smuggling. These included the “Office of the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Regional Attache Seminar on Trafficking in Persons, Forced Child Labor, Child Sex Tourism, which was held 15-17 November, 2010.

3. International Organization for Migration (IOM)

The Ministry of National Security has also participated in training sessions, meetings and conferences sponsored by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) (Regional Office for North America and the Caribbean) to address the crime of human trafficking. One of the most recent was the IOM’s Caribbean Counter-Trafficking Conference held in Miami, Florida, October 2010. The Conference was mainly devoted to national and regional counter-trafficking initiatives, with special emphasis on the areas of awareness raising and institutional strengthening, legislative efforts, victim assistance, and criminal investigations and prosecutions.