20. Furthermore, according to Articles 9 and 14(1) of the Constitution, an unmarried Bahamian father is denied
the right to confer his nationality on his children, a right reserved for unmarried mothers:
Article 9 “(1) ... a person born legitimately outside The Bahamas ...whose mother is a citizen of The
Bahamas shall be entitled, upon making application on his attaining the age of eighteen years and before
he attains the age of twenty-one years, in such manner as may be prescribed, to be registered as a citizen
of The Bahamas provided that if he is a citizen of some country other than The Bahamas he shall not be
entitled to be registered as a citizen of The Bahamas ... unless he renounces his citizenship of that other
country, takes the oath of allegiance and makes and registers such declaration of his intentions
concerning residence as may be prescribed....”
Article 14(1) “Any reference…to the father of a person shall, in relation to any person born out of
wedlock…, be construed as a reference to the mother of that person.”
21. Importantly, the term ‘legitimately’ in Article 9 is interpreted to mean ‘married’. Accordingly, while
unmarried Bahamian women and married men born after 1973 can automatically pass on their nationality
to their children born abroad, married women, unmarried men and men born before 1973 cannot. This
situation amounts to discrimination on the basis of the parents’ gender and marital status.
22. Regarding the conferral of nationality of adopted children, Section 4 of The Bahamas Nationality Act,
denies Bahamian women the right to confer their nationality on children in the case of joint adoption,
while Bahamian men are permitted to confer their nationality on adopted children in all circumstances:
“Where, under a law in force in The Bahamas relating to the adoption of children, an adoption order is
made by a competent court in respect of a minor who is not a citizen of The Bahamas, then if the adopter,
or in the case of a joint adoption, the male adopter, is a citizen of The Bahamas, the minor shall become
a citizen of The Bahamas from the date of the order.”
23. Bahamian women are also denied the right to confer their nationality on foreign spouses, a right that is
reserved for men in Article 10 of the Constitution of The Bahamas:
“Any woman who, after 9th July 1973, marries a person who is or becomes a citizen of The Bahamas
shall be entitled...upon taking the oath of allegiance or such declaration as may be prescribed, to be
registered as a citizen of The Bahamas: Provided that the right to be registered as a citizen of The
Bahamas under this Article shall be subject to such exceptions or qualifications as may be prescribed in
the interests of national security or public policy.”
24. On 7 June 2016 a Constitutional referendum, which put to public vote the question of eliminating
discrimination on the basis of sex in terms of nationality rights and enshrining the principle of equality
between women and men in the Bahamian Constitution, failed to secure a majority of votes. Three of the
four bills included in the referendum sought to ensure that Bahamian women and men are treated equally
in their ability to confer nationality to children and spouses, while the fourth would have made it
unconstitutional to discriminate based upon sex. Due to the referendum’s failure, The Bahamas remains
one of only twenty-six countries worldwide – one of two in the Western Hemisphere – that still denies
mothers the right to confer nationality to their children on an equal basis with men. The Bahamas remains
one of two countries in the Western Hemisphere to deny unmarried fathers the right to confer nationality
on children.
25. While the co-submitting organisations recognise efforts undertaken to facilitate the amendment of the
Bahamian Constitution and its nationality laws, the failed 2016 referendum does not preclude the