Guyana remains committed to fighting human trafficking

BY: KRISTEN MACKLINGAM

Trafficking in Persons (TIPs) continues to be a major concern for many countries, and Guyana remains committed to addressing this issue. According to Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, the 2011 report of this task force addresses a number of issues such as prevention and awareness efforts, training programmes, the amount of victims, support and assistance for victims and inter-agency cooperation.
He explained that government had implemented a number of new interventions during the reporting period and was also able to sustain and improve those which had commenced several years ago.
Some of these are the expansion of community focal points in the regions and the inclusion of officers of the Guyana Forestry Commission and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission in training programmes on trafficking in persons.
Guyana Times International understands that during last year, there was a new focus on public-private partnerships for preventing TIP, where several businesses, mainly shops and bars, were targeted to support initiatives to combat human trafficking.
However, the report recommended that continued activities be conducted in areas outside of the capital city in order to widen coverage and incorporate new businesses.
As the Counter-Trafficking in Persons Unit of the Labour, Human Services and Social Security Ministry continued to raise public awareness and hosts sensitisation and training activities, a number of workshops were conducted with regional administrative officials, community leaders and other stakeholders.
The 2011 Ministerial Task Force reported in 2011 that there was a further improvement in government’s efforts as it relates to the social services and general support afforded to alleged victims of TIPs; building on advancements made in 2010.
Meanwhile, with regards to prosecution, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) had conducted two training programmes for officers and ranks on TIPs. The programmes covered victim identification and TIPs’ investigation.
A total of 41 police officers and ranks were trained, and the GPF also conducted surveillance, monitoring exercises and raids on bars and shops to detect cases of human trafficking.
Further, the local report stated that there were several inaccuracies and misrepresentations in the U.S. State Department’s 2012 report on the TIPs situation in Guyana.
“What is clear is that the architects of this report (U.S. State Department) have not made significant progress in improving the veracity, coherence and validity of their annual assessments. The Ministerial Task Force denounces the report since it comprises unsubstantiated generalisations and repetitive uncorroborated claims. The task force strongly recommends that the U.S. State Department seeks to improve its methodology; establish proper baselines to guide comparisons; avoid use of anecdotal claims; and develop a consistent, understandable, transparent and logical tier ranking system if countries are to benefit from these rituals,” it said.
According to the Ministerial Task Force, in responding to the U.S. Report, it is obligated to defend Guyana’s national image against unwarranted criticisms.
“While we applaud the efforts of the U.S. to highlight this global issue, we encourage them to conduct more systematic research and be more objective in their analyses in future reports. The task force is also cognisant of the useful role the local media can play in sensitising Guyanese against menaces to human security such as human trafficking. It is the intention of the task force to continue to engage the media constructively,” the Ministerial Task Force said.