A bill seeking to amend the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956 (the “Act”) and to make amendments to Schedule 2 to the Human Rights Act 1981 (the “Human Rights Act”) has been laid before Parliament.
The bill entitled the Bermuda Immigration [No. 2] Act 2017 (the “Bill”) seeks to amend section 8 of the Act to allow that the provisions of the Act will operate and have effect notwithstanding the Human Rights Act. If passed, the Bill will ensure the primacy of the Human Rights Act in immigration matters. The government has justified the legislation as being necessary after the primacy of the Human Rights Act enabled some non-Bermudians to claim that they were being discriminated against based on their place of origin.
The government claims the operation immigration law will still be subject to the rights enshrined in Bermuda’s Constitution which provides protection from, inter alia, discrimination based on race, place of origin, political opinions, colour or creed.
