As Guyana observes Human Trafficking Awareness Day on January 11th, 2015. The Government of Guyana continues to make significant strides through the collaborative efforts of the Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking In Persons, together with non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders in Guyana. Taking into consideration the global impact of this phenomenon, decisive action is required at the national and regional levels in order to respond effectively and efficiently to the vulnerabilities that increase the likelihood of persons being victims of trafficking in persons.
Today, all over the world men, women and children are victims of human trafficking – labour and sexual exploitation. To help fight this social disease, the Government of Guyana has initiated a four (4) paradigm approach, namely: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Partnership.
Government enacted legislation in 2005 – The Combating of Trafficking In Persons Act, 2005 to combat this scourge specifically, that hinders the development of its citizens. It is almost a decade now, since the implementation of the Combating of Trafficking In Persons Act 2005 was enacted. This has led to the successful prosecution of perpetrators over the years.
Further, Government has also utilised other initiatives such as, developing a National Plan of Action (2014-2015), conducting school and community awareness and sensitisation sessions, and continuous capacity building programmes for the citizens of Guyana to sensitise persons from being vulnerable to the dangers of trafficking in persons. These initiatives are done with the objective of reducing the incidences of this phenomenon, along with other measures and demonstrate Government’s commitment to curtail human trafficking in Guyana, and to protect those victims of trafficking, and to ensure that the human rights of these persons are upheld.
The Government of Guyana will continue to heighten awareness of this phenomenon and will relentlessly pursue perpetrators who are in breach of the Laws of Guyana, and takes this opportunity to solicit optimum support from its partners both locally and internationally in combating this phenomenon.
It is through the collaborative effort of all citizens that we as Guyanese can eradicate this phenomenon in Guyana.