It is disheartening that the long-delayed Human Rights Commission Act was removed from the House of Assembly’s agenda last week.
For about a decade, legislators have been promising to pass the law, which would establish the commission provided for in the 2007 Constitution, but efforts to get it done have stalled repeatedly.
Last week, they were scheduled to vote on the bill. Then it disappeared with no explanation.
Premier Dr. Orlando Smith explained later that the HOA was busy, and said the law is likely to be back on the next sitting’s agenda. We hope so. Then it should be passed without further delay.
The commission is badly needed in a territory where rights abuses are all too common in spite of the 2007 Constitution’s well-conceived human rights chapter.
Dishonest employers, for example, have taken advantage of employees by skimping on pay and using other devious tactics. Unscrupulous public officers have shirked their responsibilities and left residents high and dry.
Migrants and prisoners alike have alleged that they have been treated inhumanely while in custody. And the list goes on.
Often, victims feel they have no recourse. They may not be able to afford a lawyer, for example, or they may fear for their immigration status at the hands of a system that isn’t always as fair as it should be.
The new commission could go a long way towards rectifying such issues. Under the proposed law, the five-member body would be charged with various duties: hearing complaints and advising residents on how to address them; serving as a watchdog and reporting abuses to the attorney general; educating the public; and advising on policy and human-rights-related legislation, to name a few.
Besides these sound provisions, however, the bill does contain a section that troubles us: It appears to indicate that the HRC won’t be empowered to investigate complaints without permission from the subject of the complaint. This would mean, for example, that the commission would not be permitted to investigate a migrant’s complaint of mistreatment at Her Majesty’s Prison without HMP authorities’ permission.
Needless to say, this provision seems likely to mean that very few investigations would come off. Legislators, then, should consider changing it.
Of course, passing a sound bill into law is just the beginning. Too often, legislation in the Virgin Islands is passed and then delayed, left unimplemented, or selectively enforced.
This must not be allowed to happen with the HRC Act. The bill should be passed and the commission appointed before the coming general election.
If it isn’t, voters should take the ongoing delays into consideration at the ballot box.
Human rights, we believe, are not negotiable.