Clause Withdrawn: Centre Of Justice Pleased
[Updated] The Centre for Justice commended the Government for being responsive to concerns about the Human Right Amendment Act, and said they are hopeful the legislation will result in equal rights for people regardless of their sexual orientation.
The Centre previously expressed concerns about a clause they said would, in effect, “allow the police to harass people,” and Attorney General Mark Pettingill announced he has decided to withdraw the clause.
A spokesperson said, “Centre for Justice sincerely commends the Government for being so responsive to concerns expressed about the Human Right Amendment Act. The Minister for Justice has responded swiftly, and openly, which is laudable.
“It is really positive to note that the proposed amendment legislation will be debated in the House of Assembly on Friday, without delay. We are hopeful that this will result in equal rights for members of the Bermuda community regardless of their sexual orientation.
“Similarly, we are pleased to see the legislation go forward without the provision which we believe would enable harassment with impunity.
“We are not sure what Government proposes to do next, regarding the Section 6C, which has now been removed from the Amendment Act. Our hope is that it will be reviewed and included at a later date, without subsection (3), which we believe is unconstitutional in that it would expressly hinder our right to free movement and it would lend itself to discriminatory behaviour and profiling.
“We will be exploring various ways to prohibit harassment, but in a manner which respects the Constitutional rights of all residents. We look forward to sharing our work with the public and government in due course.”
Update: Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda [CURB] said they “would like to join the Centre for Justice by adding our endorsement to Government for their prompt response to our concerns as an advocacy group regarding Subsection (3) of Section 6C of the Human Rights Amendment Act.
“Likewise, we support the legislation going forward for debate in the House of Assembly without Subsection (3), which we believe would enable harassment with impunity and result in discrimination and racial profiling. We trust that Section 6C will be included later after review, without subsection (3).
“CURB will continue to advocate with Government to repeal Section 315F of the Criminal Code, which provides for Stop and Search without probable cause, as we also believe this Section is unconstitutional and results in discrimination and racial profiling.”
Well done to the present GOV for listening. Much appreciated
They should of had the sense of to not try to put it into motion in the first place.
I agree!
Shame on “the present GOV” for its seeming lackadaisical approach to transparency… the Bermuda Parliament Hansard has not been updated since 2013-05-17…
Words for which this is no objective reality: “sexual orientation”