THE Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons (MTFTIP) has expressed reservations about the United States (U.S.) State Department’s 2013 Report on the issue in Guyana.

A press release, issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, said the body feels “that the report has not reviewed Guyana fairly and, therefore, attracts little merit on the part of the Government of Guyana.”
The MTFTIP was established by Cabinet on July 6, 2007 and includes governmental agencies, such as the  Home Affairs Ministry; the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security; the Ministry of Legal Affairs; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs; the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development; the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment; the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC); the Guyana Police Force (GPF); as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), namely the Indigenous Peoples’ Association, Help and Shelter and Food for the Poor.
The release said the Government of Guyana (GoG), routinely, denounces the U.S. State Department’s Report on (TIP) in Guyana.
In his address to the recently staged Guyana Investment Conference, President Donald Ramotar criticised the U.S. over what he called their “flawed methodology” used in computing Guyana’s ranking with regard to TIP.
The release said a number of “misrepresentations” were made in the U.S. compilation, one such being its citing of a November 2012 media publication that “a child was murdered while working in the mines and (that) reports linked his death to his (the child’s) attempt to collect wages due to him.”

SADLY MURDERED
In its defence, the MTFTIP pointed out that “while the Government of Guyana has established that the child was indeed sadly murdered, it is of the view that the U.S. report has not provided a shred of evidence to link the child’s death to the offence of trafficking in persons.”
The MTFTIP charged that the reference to the child’s murder in the mines was an effort, on the part of the U.S. Government to “sex-up” its compendium.
It also took umbrage to the mentioning that “Indonesian workers were subjected to forced labour on several Guyanese-flagged fishing boats off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago during the reporting period.”
The release said the GoG dismissed that reference as “spurious” and went on to add that it was nothing more than a vain attempt to include an “extra-territorial” matter in order to give “some degree of credence to a report that is riddled with fabrications.”
The Guyana Government said it has no “knowledge of this matter whatsoever” and complained that the U.S. has breached an agreement, between its embassy officials and Task Force Ministers, to share information on TIP by keeping it in the dark about that affair.
“It is not clear why the Government of Guyana would desire information on a criminal matter it considers as outside its jurisdiction,” the release stated.
The State Department claimed “the Government of Guyana does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however it is making significant efforts to do so.”
The release, indignantly, points out that:“The Government of Guyana, strictly, adheres to and upholds the minimum standards of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and its own ‘Combating Trafficking in Persons Act No. 2 of 2005’.”

SOVEREIGN NATION
The statement continues: “Guyana, as a sovereign nation, is not a signatory of the United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). Consequently (it) is not required to follow that Act.”
The release said, though the Government’s response implies otherwise, the State Department does not consider the U.S. TVPA as relevant to its assessment. Instead, it considers country performance, with respect to the following international conventions: UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress & Punish Trafficking in Persons; ILO Convention 182 Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour; Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography; Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Armed Conflict; ILO Convention 29 on Forced Labour and ILO Convention 105 on Abolition of Forced Labour.
Although Guyana has acceded to or ratified all the afore-mentioned conventions, the U.S. said concerns linger over their implementation here.
Responding to the claim that “the (Guyana) Government failed to demonstrate evidence of increasing efforts to hold trafficking offenders accountable, with jail time over the previous reporting period (and) reported no convictions of sex or labour trafficking offenders,” the Government sought to distance itself from law enforcement and judicial outcomes.
The release said the Guyana Government has “told the U.S. Government, on numerous occasions, that it has no control over the Judiciary and the Magistracy.”
Pointing out that the Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) Chambers is a public office, the independence of which is preserved in the Constitution, the release stated: “The long established practice has been that the Guyana Police Force investigates and submits the case files to the DPP and the DPP, in turn, would advise on whether charges are to be laid or not or if the matter should be tried summarily.”

COURT DOES
“The decision to convict or not is one exclusively for the court,” the MTFTIP stressed in its release, while adding: “Reiterating, for emphasis, the Government of Guyana does not hold persons accountable with jail time, the court does.”
“The tangible role for Government is to ensure that the relevant legislation is in place and, in this regard, it has passed a very comprehensive Trafficking in Persons Act,” the MTPTIP maintained.
It also defended itself against aspersions that it had falsified data, citing that the U.S. posited that “the Guyana Government reported the initiation of seven sex trafficking prosecutions (but) it was unclear if the one prosecution documented in the previous reporting period was included in this figure.”
The MTFTIP reacted:“As far as the Government of Guyana is concerned, each of the seven sex trafficking prosecutions that took place during the reporting period are reflected in the report (and) the one prosecution documented in the previous reporting period was not included.”
In its rebuttal, the release refers to the statement that “the great majority of prosecutions initiated in other reporting periods were dismissed when the prosecutors were unable to proceed, usually, because witnesses declined to testify.”
To that the MTFTIP replied: “The Government of Guyana is aware that it is not uncommon, throughout the world, for witnesses to decline to testify. Prospective witnesses cannot be forced to testify.”
“Guyana is not unique in this respect; it is an individual’s right to be able to decide whether or not he/she wants to testify in a court case.”
“Essentially, what matters is the expeditious dispensing of trials, so as to facilitate the ready availability of witnesses to testify.”
The U.S. alleged: “The Government did not report any investigations or prosecutions of Government employees for complicity in trafficking-related offences during the reporting period.”

MANUFACTURE CHARGES
But the Government said: “In 2012, there were no such cases; thus the Government of Guyana cannot report on complicity, neither would the Government manufacture charges against its public officers so as to satisfy a report.”
Recently, police officers were reported to have engaged in sex with TIP victims at the Sherima Police Station, but observers have pointed out that this occurrence is not unprecedented.
The release said the U.S. Report said: “Stakeholders reported that the lack of transparent public standard operating procedures for handling trafficking cases was an obstacle to progress.
However, the Government of Guyana views that as an unadulterated falsehood, since there exist standard operating procedures (SOPs) and these are being applied nationally.
It disclosed, too, that the SOPs are currently being updated.
The MTFTIP charged that the U.S. Government tried to appear “magnanimous” by stating that it made efforts to protect victims of trafficking during the reporting period, by identifying and assisting trafficking victims, but these efforts were hindered by the lack of accountability for perpetrators of human trafficking.
The reaction to that is: “The Government of Guyana considers this another blatant falsehood.
“All reports of trafficking in persons are investigated, charges are instituted based on the evidence and the courts decide on the culpability of the alleged perpetrator.
“The Government of Guyana has passed stringent legislation on trafficking in persons and has put in place the institutional arrangements to ensure that perpetrators are answerable for their crimes.”
The remainder of the release said the report mentions that the Government did not provide specialised care for adult male victims but reported that men received similar access to care services offered to female victims.”
“This is a falsehood. Specialised care is, indeed, provided for alleged victims of trafficking, whether male or female.”
Further, the U.S. State Department posited that “longer term shelter and protection was not available in Guyana, putting victims at risk of traffickers’ reprisals since the Government also failed to punish most trafficking offenders with incarceration.”

SUFFERED REPRISAL
The Government of Guyana wants to make it known that this country has never had an experience where a person who was, allegedly, trafficked suffered reprisal.  There is provision, though, for long-term shelter and protection for alleged victims of trafficking in persons. If they so request, long-term shelter is provided by Help and Shelter.
The U.S. said: “Officials reportedly encouraged victims to participate in the prosecution of trafficking offenders. However, backlogs throughout the court system and delays increased the likelihood that victims would become discouraged and cease cooperation as witnesses in trafficking prosecutions.”
In accordance with its policy, the Government will continue to encourage victims to participate in the prosecution of trafficking offenders.
“However, we repeat the fact that the Government of Guyana has no control over backlogs and delays within the court system,” the release said.
As regards the recommendations of the U.S. State Department, the Government of Guyana responded as follows:
“In respect of [the] recommendation that the Government should boost efforts to hold trafficking offenders accountable by vigorously and appropriately investigating and prosecuting forced prostitution and forced labour, the Government of Guyana is being as vigorous as it can be in investigating allegations of trafficking in persons. The Government, as a matter of policy and law, does not encourage or condone trafficking in persons. Moreover, the Government of Guyana possesses the appropriate mechanisms to respond to trafficking in persons and will continue to robustly make efforts to hold trafficking offenders accountable.”
About what is recommended, that Government should, in partnership with NGOs, develop SOPs to guide and encourage frontline officials, including the police, health, immigration, labour, mining and forestry personnel in the identification and protection of victims of forced labour and prostitution, ensuring that victims are not punished for crimes committed as a result of being subjected to human trafficking, the Government of Guyana is open to partnering with NGOs.
“This policy has been publicly made clear on numerous occasions. The U.S. Embassy should provide the evidence where the Government of Guyana is unwilling to engage in partnership with NGOs in combating trafficking in persons.
“Further, encouragement and training of frontline officials is an ongoing process in accordance with the National Action Plan for the Ministerial Task Force.
“In addition, Government has a policy on victim protection by which it is guided.”
The U.S. had also suggested that Government should offer protection and assistance to victims near mining communities but the latter reiterated that, once a report of trafficking in person is received, whether it is on the coastland or the interior, protection and assistance are offered to victims. This is done on a routine basis.
Finally, concerning the suggestion that Government should investigate and hold accountable the perpetrators of forced labour on Guyanese-flagged vessels and foster a climate of open dialogue on trafficking and encouraging people to come forward to authorities on potential cases, it reaffirmed that TIP is discussed, publicly, in Guyana and no attempt is made to prohibit this.

HOTLINE NUMBER
“There is a Trafficking in Persons hotline number 592-227-4083 that has been publicly advertised and persons are encouraged to call. It is not mandatory for the caller to give their personal information.
“Moreover, there are debates in the National Assembly, live television and radio call-in programmes as well as newspaper reports which feature aspects of trafficking in persons, the basic objective being to sensitise the populace. As far as the Government is concerned, there is nothing to hide. Guyana is not a closed society where these matters are kept secret. An analysis may well show that the amount of resources expended on this issue is disproportionate to the scale of the problem.”
In conclusion, the MTFTIP said it of the firm view that there is no excuse for the U.S. State to ignore the gains made by Guyana in addressing TIP.
“The Task Force views the report as lacking credibility and, therefore, rejects the Report,” the release said.
The Government of Guyana regrets that the U.S. Embassy, though it requests responses, every year, to a questionnaire on TIPs, does not accurately reflect these responses in its Annual Report.
“Consequently, the Government of Guyana wishes to make it clear that, in future, such questionnaires will not be completed and returned to the U.S. authorities,” the release announced.
It said the Government of Guyana stands committed to the fight against TIP in Guyana and calls upon all stakeholders, in particular and Guyanese, as a whole, to join in the fight against it.