Submission from Mr R David, Bermuda
GOOD GOVERNANCE
OF BERMUDA
I wish to the raise the matter of nationality
for those who were born in Bermuda, but are not eligible for Bermuda
Status.
Currently if ones parents are legally in Bermuda
as migrant workers and happen to give birth on the island, the
child does not have any claim to Bermuda Status. This situation
occurs despite many years of residency, on the island, by the
Bermuda born child.
The child is entitled to become a British Overseas
Citizen of Bermuda; however this will only allow the right of
abode and will not confer any rights of employment on the individual.
The Government of Bermuda are able to bar the person from gaining
employment and enjoying the full rights of citizenship through
the "Bermuda Status" legislation. This effectively makes
some Bermuda born children second class citizens in their own
land of birth. Strangely this denial of basic human rights upon
such individuals continues to be endorsed by the silence of the
FCO on this matter.
In no part of the European Union would this
situation be allowed to exist when individuals have had such a
strong association with their place of birth for so many years.
I have used this as an example of how the winds
of change brought about by the European convention on human rights
have yet to blow through our dependent territories.
These dubious pieces of law that reestablish
an "apartheid style" of human rights to Bermuda born
individuals need to be addressed. How can it be right to justify
the legal denial of full citizenship to these individuals? This
situation is shameful and cannot represent a model of good governance
in 2008.
12 March 2008
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