Some employers coerce migrant workers - legal and illegal - to work longer hours, at lower pay, and in conditions not permitted under local labor law by changing the terms of employment contracts, withholding travel documents, refusing transportation back home, threatening to withdraw the employer-specific and employer-held permits, or threatening to have the employee deported through other means.
Nevertheless, the Foreign Ministry criticizes that courts work slowly, convictions of human traffickers are few and far between and that the funds for victim support have decreased.
It continued to face relevant resource and capacity constraints, and confronted multiple competing law enforcement priorities.
The Ministry of Education formed a task force[6] to investigate allegations of a student prostitution ring at a high school in Eleuthera.
NGOs, in partnership with the Bahamian government, provided immigration, labor, social services, and law enforcement personnel with anti-trafficking training.
Although the practice continued to some extent, automatic deportations have decreased as official awareness of trafficking as a form of transnational crime has increased.
Anecdotal reports indicate that during 2009 some military personnel may have been involved in assisting with the illegal entry of trafficking victims into the country.
The government has developed but has not yet implemented a plan to refer victims to the Bureau of Women’s Affairs, the Crisis Centre, and the Eugene Dupuch Law School.
During the year, the government arranged for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to conduct victim assistance training for immigration, labor, social services, law enforcement and NGO participants.
To address the vulnerability of some migrant workers to labor exploitation, the government expedited the processing of immigration claims and granted citizenship to certain long-time residents.