GUYANA has found its way on the tier 2 watch list by the State Department of the United States for the “complicit” responses of dealing with the scourge of Trafficking in Persons, and Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Simona Broomes, is confident that there will be a change in Guyana’s status under the new Administration. Being on the Tier 2 watch list means, according to the 2015 U.S. State Department Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report, that the government of any country on the list is not fully compliant with the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of the U.S., but “is making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.”
The report said TIP victims in Guyana are forced to work in the mining, agriculture, and forestry sectors, and in domestic service and shops. The report cited “limited Government presence in the interior” as the reason why trafficking crimes go unnoticed.
The report also noted the complicit response of police officers in dealing with the crimes due to what the report called “corruption”. The report did however acknowledge the role of then People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government in its efforts to dealing with TIP.
Although the previous Government had implemented an action plan on TIP in 2014, the report said the Government did not aggressively ensure the implementation of that action plan.
“Government efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers and identify and assist victims remained limited. The Government provided insufficient support to NGOs that identified and assisted a significant number of victims,” the 2015 TIP report said.
Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Simona Broomes, while acting as a senior official in the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO), had led a number of operations into mining camps in Guyana’s remote Essequibo region.
Since her appointment as a Government Minister, Broomes led yet another operation in Bartica, Region 7 (Cuyuni Mazaruni) where she and a team of law enforcement officers disbanded a smuggling ring and took a number of TIP victims into custody, including some Caribbean and Latin American nationals.
While Guyana was previously criticised for its failure in prosecuting perpetrators of TIP, Minister Broomes is convinced that the new Administration, which came into power following the defeat of the PPP/C at the May 11 elections, will be working to ensure the readiness of national institutions in dealing effectively with the issue.
Broomes lauded the implementation of Guyana’s 2005 Combating the Trafficking of Persons Act which ensured the protection of the TIP victims from incarceration at police stations or detention centres.
Guyana’s recommendation from the U.S. Government on TIP is to “vigorously investigate and prosecute” persons found guilty of sex and labour trafficking offenses. The report also called for the Guyana Government to lend assistance to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in the area of combatting trafficking in persons “in a way that does not further endanger victims.”
The report also urged the partnership of the police, health, immigration, labour, mining, and forestry personnel in eradicating the instances of human trafficking.