Media advisories Special Procedures

UN experts on arbitrary detention to visit the Bahamas

24 November 2023

GENEVA (24 November 2023) – The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention will conduct an official visit to the Bahamas from 27 November to 8 December 2023 to assess the situation of detention in the country.

The delegation, comprising Priya Gopalan, Ganna Yudkivska and Mumba Malila, will meet with Government officials, civil society groups and other relevant actors during the visit.

The experts will visit places of deprivation of liberty, including prisons, police stations and institutions for children, migrants and people with psychosocial disabilities, to gather information for their assessment.

They will hold a press conference on 8 December 2023, at 13:00 local time in the WHO/PAHO Conference Room, 2nd Floor of the Grosvenor Medical Centre Building, Grosvenor Close off Shirley Street. Access will be strictly limited to journalists.

The Working Group will present its final report on the visit to the Human Rights Council in September 2024.

For media registration for the Press Conference, please contact Ms. Tanya McFall-Major (mcfalltan@paho.org).

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was established by the former Commission on Human Rights in 1991 to investigate instances of alleged arbitrary deprivation of liberty. Its mandate was clarified and extended by the Commission to cover the issue of administrative custody of asylum-seekers and immigrants. In September 2019, the Human Rights Council confirmed the scope of the Working Group's mandate and extended it for a further three-year period. The Working Group is comprised of five independent expert members from various regions of the world: Priya Gopalan (Chair-Rapporteur), Matthew Gillett (Vice-Chair on Communications), Ganna Yudkivska (Vice-Chair on Follow-Up), Miriam Estrada-Castillo and Mumba Malila.

Database of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

The Working Group is part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

UN Human Rights, Country Page — The Bahamas

For press inquiries related to the Working Group, please contact Ms. Margarita Nechaeva (margarita.nechaeva@un.org); Ms. Maria Vandoni (maria.vandoni@un.org) and Ms. Lucie Viersma (lucie.viersma@un.org); or write to hrc-wg-ad@un.org.

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact: Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org)

Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts.

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