By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

PROMINENT human rights and environmental attorney Fred Smith QC, yesterday called on the government to put in place an environmental protection act.

The need for such legislation, Mr Smith told The Tribune, was evident as the country’s most precious natural resources have continually and most recently been endangered following two oil slicks.

One of the incidents happened last Saturday after the Bahamas Oil Refining Company (BORCO) reported a spill near Pinder’s Point. There was another spill at the Freeport Harbour in January, also involving BORCO.

While the BEST commission manages the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements and reviews environmental impact assessments, Mr Smith wants an independent regulatory body “with teeth” created.

The commission is not a statutory body neither was it created by legislation, making it less effective and relevant Mr Smith said. 

“The Bahamas,” he said, “as a small island nation, must make protecting the environment a priority. It is also important that stakeholders and interested parties who may be affected by industrial and/or other urban developments have an opportunity to be properly consulted.

“The need for environmental, health and safety at work legislation, with teeth, is even more important as thousands of Bahamian workers and upwards of 60,000 Bahamian residents, are exposed to industrial hazards, toxic wastes and other environmental dangers moreso than in the rest of the Bahamas.


Mr Smith is also urging Labour Minister Shane Gibson to develop regulations and to appoint a Health and Safety Committee under the Health and Safety at Work Act in Freeport to protect workers.


“Such legislation would ensure that those responsible for any damage to the environment and for any injuries to workers and the public would be held financially accountable and could be made to clean up any damage subject to fines and/or penalties of a criminal nature,” he said.


Mr Smith has appeared before various tribunals, the Supreme Court of The Bahamas, The Court of Appeal of The Bahamas and The Privy Council.

Most notably he stood before the Human Rights Commission of the Organisation of American States, sitting in Washington, DC, in the mid-1980s. The case concerned an action against the Government of The Bahamas alleging breaches of human rights against the general Haitian population living in The Bahamas.

He is also the President of the Human Rights Association and has been instrumental in initiatives including “Save Guana Cay.”