UN Refugee Agency salutes Bahamas shift to ensure gender equality on citizenship

Passage of legislation by The Bahamas Parliament aimed at ensuring gender equality in the country’s citizenship process was a historic step that will help prevent statelessness and that sets a strong example for the Caribbean region and the world, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Thursday.

“With the passage of four constitutional amendments, The Bahamas has taken a definitive step toward ending gender discrimination in citizenship,” said Shelly Pitterman, UNHCR regional representative for the United States and the Caribbean.

“The Bahamas should be congratulated for taking definitive legislative steps to bring its nationality provisions in line with international standards,” Pitterman said.

The Bahamas Parliament, following through on the country’s 2014 pledge to end statelessness in the Caribbean region, on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved four constitutional amendments that would effectively remove gender-discriminatory provisions on transmission of citizenship from the country’s Constitution.

The amendments will be put to a national referendum later this year and become law if approved.

Under current law, Bahamian women face restrictions not applied to men in their right to transmit citizenship to children born abroad or to a foreign spouse. Bahamian men also face separate gender-related restrictions on transmitting citizenship.

Gender discrimination in nationality laws is a leading cause of statelessness. In November 2014, UNHCR launched its IBELONG Campaign to End Statelessness around the world by 2024.

In December 2014, on the 30th anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, The Bahamas joined Latin American and Caribbean states in adopting the Brazil Declaration and its Plan of Action which calls on states to “promote the harmonization of internal legislation and practice on nationality with international standards.” 

UNHCR congratulates the Government of The Bahamas for taking these steps and ensuring the country meets its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and other international and regional instruments.

Subject to a successful Constitutional Referendum, UNHCR is hopeful that The Bahamas will be the first country, since the launch of the IBELONG campaign, to remove gender discrimination from nationality provisions.