NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson has discharged an injunction that previously barred the government from demolishing structures in shanty towns in New Providence and Abaco.
The injunction stemmed from a judicial review application brought by shanty town residents in 2018 into whether their removal is unconstitutional.
Acknowledging that the issue was a “crucial matter of national importance,” Justice Grant-Thompson in a 70-page decision handed down today ruled that the original injunction instituted in 2018 is now discharged, meaning that the government is no longer restrained from taking possession of, or demolishing, or otherwise “lawfully interfering with the applicants’ and other residents’ and occupiers’ enjoyment of land in “Shanty Towns” in New Providence or elsewhere in The Bahamas.”
According to the ruling by Justice Grant-Thompson, the ruling includes “the disconnection of any utilities in accordance with the relevant enabling legislation, in full conformity with the laws and usages of The Bahamas.”
The ruling further stipulates that the government’s action in this regard “should be humane and sensitive to the needs of this potentially vulnerable community and in full compliance with International Conventions such as the United Nations Convention on Human Rights, and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which recognizes the inherent dignity of equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.”
The judicial review application had been filed by Respect Our Homes and 177 residents of shanty towns.
The Office of the Attorney General recently filed a summons seeking the court’s permission to demolish the expansion of a shanty town in Abaco and two locations in New Providence, an action which prior to the ruling had been blocked.
