AS has  happened quite often in recent years with respect to its annual reports on drugs trafficking in the Caribbean, the United States of America now seems to have stirred up a hornet’s nest by its latest report on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) with Guyana, for one,  loudly crying ‘foul’ and calling for an apology.
`In its just-released 2010 TIP Report, the US State Department has spread its accusations to blaming governments – Jamaica, included – for failing to provide required “comprehensive data” during the reporting period.
The 2010 report links Jamaica’s scourge of trafficking in persons (largely women and girls forced into  prostitution in tourist areas) with the operations of drug lords in so-called “garrison” communities.
Tivoli Gardens’ of ‘don’ Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke–currently on the run from the law–is one such TIP areas.
Release of the 2010 TIP Report has also coincided with last week’s passage of legislation in Antigua and Barbuda to deal with the illegal trade in humans, a problem over which that Eastern Caribbean state  has suffered a sharp, accusatory tongue from Washington prior to last week’s passage of TIP legislation.
In its editorial yesterday (Tues)  on “Caribbean’s Challenge in Human Trade”, the Barbados ‘Daily Nation’ noted that TIP “has long been recognised as a serious anti-crime agenda driven by the USA under successive Washington administrations in keeping with expressed concerns for their own as well as hemispheric security interests…”
For its part, the Guyana Government lost no time in going on the offensive on Monday against the US State Department, using undiplomatic language to dismiss the 2010 TIP Report in reference to that Caricom state as “sheer ‘eye-pass’ (creolese for insult); ‘crap’ and ‘diatribe’.
The angry words flowed at a hastily-called press briefing, organised by Dr Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, with three cabinet ministers participating:
They were the Ministers of Human Services and Social Security (Priya Manickchand), Home Affairs (Clement Rohee) and Education (Shaik Baksh).
GUYANA’S ANGER
One of the reasons for the Guyana Government’s anger, as reported from the media briefing, was an unsubstantiated claim in the US report that approximately 984 children were removed from exploitative child labour between 2005 to 2009.
Luncheon claimed that there was “something sinister” in the alleged “findings” that contrasted with the government’s own report on ongoing efforts to deal with cases of human trafficking.
Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, who was among participants at last week’s meeting in Barbados of US Secretary of State and Caribbean Foreign Ministers, has been authorised to immediately lodge a formal protest with the USA and seek an explanation on inaccuracies in the TIP report that “hurts (Guyana/USA) friendship”.
TIP reports by the US State Department generally make claims of criminal networkings that involve forced prostitution of women, girls and boys, as well as exploitation of child labour and also engages in a policy of selective category ratings of governments responses to the challenges of trafficking in persons – known to be a sickening worldwide human tragedy.
Both Jamaica and Guyana are currently on the US so-called ‘Tier-2’ category rating, which is designed to show some positive response – but not sufficiently, as pre-determined by the American authorities – in dealing with the crime of human trafficking.
Guyana’s Minister of Human Services and Social Security, is, however, is not only questioning the rationale of the ratings category, but feels that an appropriate ‘apology’ from Washington was necessary.
In providing an “overview” at Monday’s media briefing of her government’s ongoing: “anti-TIP programme”, the minister argued that “there is no justification” for this placement of Guyana and the report should be “withdrawn with an apology…”
In view of recurring controversial claims in US State Department reports on the trade in humans in the Caribbean, as well as over illicit drugs and trafficking in small arms, it is to be expected that these problems will be addressed at next month’s CARICOM Heads of Government Conference in Montego Bay.
The moreso in the context of what was pursued in Barbados last Thursday with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton on “Caribbean-US Dialogue on Security Cooperation”.