Escape from sexual slavery
Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan in discussion with Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes, in the presence of Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence (right), and US Ambassador Perry Holloway (right) on Saturday
Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan in discussion with Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes, in the presence of Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence (right), and US Ambassador Perry Holloway (right) on Saturday

–teen recalls horror; Gov’t pledges relentless fight against TIP

By Svetlana Marshall

THIRTEEN! That was the age Mel (not her real name) was when she was stripped of her human rights and made a sex object.She was with her father on her dream vacation in Charity, having lacked the ‘luxury’ of a television set and other amenities back home, when she was snatched by human traffickers, Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources and US 2013 Trafficking In Persons (TIP) heroine Simona Broomes said as she recounted the horrific story told by one of the many victims she had rescued.

One of the survivors of human trafficking
One of the survivors of human trafficking

While on her way to a video store, Mel, who hails from a small, not-too-well-known village in Region One, was snatched by one of several traffickers who were waiting in a car nearby. For hours they travelled by land and by river, before arriving at a hotel; and much to her surprise, the man who had professed to be a police officer and had pledged to protect her had transformed into a beast.

“The job you are going for, I am the person who got to sample the fitness,” Mel was told by the man as he viciously raped her. Her screams for help were met with greater force, as he dealt her several slaps whilst warning her to calm down.

Having being ravaged, Mel was taken to another distant location, where she was expected to perform sexual duties in return for cash, much to the benefit of her slave masters. These acts were committed in ‘kaimoos.’

“Men I knew from a child I had to sleep with; men I called uncle in my village I had to sleep with,” Minister Broomes said Mel had related to her.

After months of being a sex slave, Mel was given $20,000 by a man who had encouraged her to escape, but the money could take her only “so far”; and before she knew it, she was a slave to another master.

However, her life as a slave soon ended after she was rescued by Minister Broomes, who at the time was President of the Guyana Women Miners’ Organisation (GWMO). Mel was not the only slave freed that day; the GWMO team had rescued four other girls, the youngest being 13 and the eldest being 17.

While significant progress has been made, Minister Broomes said, more needs to be done to protect Guyana’s women and children. She has called on the Guyana Police Force to take an active lead in the fight against human trafficking.

She made the call on Saturday morning following an awareness walk to Durban Park at the Square of the Revolution, which was held to commemorate World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. The event was organised by the Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons and was led by Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan.

She said the move by the Ministry of Public Security to establish a TIP hotline is an indication that the Government is putting systems in place to tackle the scourge of human trafficking.

“In those days, calling a number meant nothing. Reporting it to the police — and in that case where it was another police — ended up in a personal battle,” she posited.

Social Protection Minister Volda Lawrence, who also participated in the awareness exercise on Saturday along with Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan and US Ambassador Perry Holloway, said Government Ministries will join forces with local and international organisations to stamp out human trafficking.

VIGOROUS FIGHT
“This Government, through its various arms, we are determined to stamp it out. We are determined to fight trafficking in persons vigorously, and we will join therefore with all forces…to end this illegal practice,” Minister Lawrence told those present.

Alluding to this year’s theme, “I give hope”, Minister Lawrence assured that her Ministry would continue to provide the support needed. “We can give hope to the victims; hope that they can escape the claws of this despicable trade. We can give hope by providing on-the-ground humanitarian and financial aid to victims in a bid to help them start a new life free from slavery,” she posited.

Ambassador Holloway, in delivering brief remarks, applauded the Government on the steps taken to combat human trafficking, as he pledged continued support from the US in this regard.

Though the country is making progress in its fight against human trafficking, it remains a source and destination for men, women, and children who are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour.

“Women and children from Guyana, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Suriname, and Venezuela are subjected to sex trafficking in mining communities in the interior and urban areas. Victims are subjected to forced labour in the mining, agriculture, and forestry sectors, as well as in domestic service and shops. While both sex trafficking and forced labour occur in interior mining communities, limited Government presence in the country’s interior renders the full extent of trafficking unknown,” the US State Department Trafficking in Persons 2016 Report stated.

The report pointed out that children are particularly vulnerable to sex and labour trafficking, while noting that “Guyanese nationals are also subjected to sex and labour trafficking in Jamaica, Suriname, and other Caribbean countries.”

According to the report, police officers are complicit in trafficking crimes, and corruption impedes anti-trafficking efforts.

Though the Government does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, it efforts were recognised by the US. “The Government convicted one trafficker, imposed (on her) a three-year prison sentence and required her to pay the victim restitution — the first time restitution has been ordered for a trafficking offender in Guyana. The Government also provided $600,000 to an NGO-run shelter dedicated to trafficking victims — the first shelter of its kind in Guyana — to enhance the shelter’s psycho-social services for victims,” the report pointed out.

Additionally, the Government has been applauded for steps taken to increase collaboration with anti-trafficking NGOs. Due to the progress made and the commitment to do better to protect the vulnerable, Guyana has been removed from the Human Trafficking Watchlist to Tier Two.

 

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