Bahamas

Reservation:
“Pursuant to Article 66, paragraph 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas declares that it does not consider itself bound by the provisions of Article 66, paragraph 2 of the Convention. The Government of the Bahamas asserts that the consent of all parties to such a dispute is necessary, in each individual case, before the dispute is submitted to arbitration or to the International Court of Justice.”

Reservation:

“In accordance with Article 16 paragraph 3, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas enters a specific reservation to the procedure established under Article 16 paragraph 2 of the Protocol on the basis that referral of a dispute concerning the application or interpretation of the provisions of the Protocol to arbitration or to the International Court of Justice must be by consent of all the parties to the dispute.”

Reservation:

“In accordance with Article 20 paragraph 3, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas enters a specific reservation to the procedure established under Article 20 paragraph 2 of the Protocol on the basis that referral of a dispute concerning the application or interpretation of the provisions of the Protocol to arbitration or to the International Court of Justice must be by consent of all the parties to the dispute.”

Reservation:

“In accordance with Article 15 paragraph 3, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas enters a specific reservation to the procedure established under Article 15 paragraph 2 of the Protocol on the basis that referral of a dispute concerning the application or interpretation of the provisions of the Protocol to arbitration or to the International Court of Justice must be by consent of all the parties to the dispute.”

Reservation:

“In accordance with Article 35 paragraph 3, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas enters a specific reservation to the procedure established under Article 35 paragraph 2 of the Convention on the basis that referral of a dispute concerning the application or interpretation of the provisions of the Convention to arbitration or to the International Court of Justice must be by consent of all the parties to the dispute.”

Declaration

“The Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas declares that the State will permit
voluntary recruitment into its national armed forces at the minimum age of eighteen and will state the general conditions of the engagement to be entered into by the recruit and a recruiting officer shall not enlist any person in that Force unless satisfied by that person that he has been given such a notice, understands it and wishes to be enlisted.”

Declaration:

"In accordance with article 2.2 of the Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas declares that it is not a party to the Agreements listed as items 5 to 9 in the annex referred to in paragraph 1, subparagraph (a) of the Convention and that those Agreements shall be deemed not to be included in the annex referred to in paragraph 1, subparagraph (a). Those Agreements are:
Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, adopted at Vienna on 3rd March, 1980.
Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil Aviation, supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation, done at Montreal on 24th February, 1988.
Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, done at Rome on 10th March, 1988.
Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms located on the Continental Shelf, done at Rome, on 10th March, 1988.
International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 15th December, 1997."

Reservation

“In accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 20, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas does not consider itself bound by any of the arbitration procedures established under paragraph 1 of Article 20 on the basis that referral of a dispute concerning the application or interpretation of the provisions of the Convention to arbitration or to the International Court must be by the consent of all of the parties to the dispute.”

Reservation made upon signature and confirmed upon ratification:

"The Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas upon signing the Convention reserves the right not to apply the provisions of article 2 of the said Convention insofar as those provisions relate to the conferment of citizenship upon a child having regard to the Provisions of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas".

Reservations:

“The Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas does not recognize the competence of the Committee against Torture as provided for in Article 20 of the UNCAT.
The Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas does not consider itself bound by paragraph 1 of Article 30 of the Convention.
The Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas reserves the right to award compensation to torture victims referred to in Article 14 of the Convention Against Torture only at the discretion of the Supreme or Appellate Courts, or the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.”

Reservations:

“The Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas does not consider itself bound by the provisions of article 2 (a) of the Convention.
The Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas does not consider itself bound by the provisions of article 9, paragraph 2, of the Convention.
The Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas does not consider itself bound by the provisions of article 29, paragraph 1, of the Convention.”

Reservation

“The Government of The Bahamas recognizes and accepts the principle of compensation for wrongful imprisonment contained in paragraph 6 of article 14, but the problems of implementation are such that the right not to apply that principle is presently reserved.”

Declaration

“The Government of the Bahamas interprets non-discrimination as to national origin as not necessarily implying an obligation on States automatically to guarantee to foreigners the same rights as to their nationals. The term should be understood to refer to the elimination of any arbitrary behavior but not of differences in treatment based on objective and reasonable considerations, in conformity with principles prevailing in democratic societies.”

"Firstly the Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas wishes to state its understanding of article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It interprets article 4 as requiring a party to the Convention to adopt further legislative measures in the fields covered by subparagraphs (a), (b) and (c) of that article only in so far as it may consider with due regard to the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration set out in article 5 of the Convention (in particular to freedom of opinion and expression and the right of freedom of peaceful assembly and association) that some legislative addition to, or variation of existing law and practice in these fields is necessary for the attainment of the ends specified in article 4. Lastly, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas entrenches and guarantees to every person in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual irrespective of his race or place of origin. The Constitution prescribes judicial process to be observed in the event of the violation of any of these rights whether by the State or by a private individual. Acceptance of this Convention by the Commonwealth of the Bahamas does not imply the acceptance of obligations going beyond the constitutional limits nor the acceptance of any obligations to introduce judicial process beyond these prescribed under the Constitution."

Reservation:

"Refugees and their dependants would normally be subjected to the same laws and regulations relating generally to the employment of non-Bahamians within the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, so long as they have not acquired status in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas."