THE International Police Organisation (INTERPOL) recently conducted a needs-assessment survey here to help Guyana combat human trafficking, the Ministry of Public Security said yesterday. Two INTERPOL officials and an officer from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) conducted the assessment, which is the first of a three-phase project designed to combat Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling in the Caribbean.
That phase of the project, which commenced on April 9, ended on April 13. According to a statement from the Public Security Ministry, the mission began with visits to Itaballi, Puruni and Bartica, all in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), in the company of a team from the Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons in Guyana.
The visit to the mining district enabled the team from INTERPOL to experience the difficulties associated with travelling to interior regions in Guyana and policing these areas. The officials also witnessed the working conditions in the mines, and the general conditions in which persons in the area live.
“This experience facilitated the team from INTERPOL in making a general assessment of the risks and other difficulties associated with curbing occurrences of trafficking in persons in interior regions in Guyana,” the ministry posited.
Before returning to Georgetown, the INTERPOL Team joined representatives of the Ministerial Task Force in conducting sensitisation on the issue in the Bartica Market, Arcade and along the beach.
This activity followed a similar Task Force “Roving Sensitization” activity conducted along the seawalls from the Seawall Bandstand to Vlissengen Road over the Easter Weekend.
“The awareness activity in Bartica saw vendors and customers alike engaged in discussion on the topic of trafficking in persons and [they were] encouraged to report suspected cases; posters affixed to the walls of various market stalls, shops and other establishments; and brochures, flyers and other materials bearing messages of awareness and the trafficking in persons hotline number was distributed to individuals along the way,” the Public Security Ministry said.
According to the ministry, the activities yielded instant results as a report was received soon after through the TIPS hotline of suspected victims in Bartica. “A raid conducted by Bartica Police saw eight females from The Dominican Republic recovered from a house in Bartica with one suspect arrested,” the Public Security Ministry stated.
The case is currently under investigation by the Guyana Police Force Criminal Investigations Department.
The INTERPOL Team met with the Ministerial Arm of the Trafficking in Persons Task Force, other Government Officials, Frontline Officers and other stakeholders in the fight against trafficking in persons in Guyana. Discussions at these meetings afforded the INTERPOL Team the opportunity to articulate the goals of their Project and to gather more information on the operational and technical needs of the Agencies involved in the fight against trafficking in persons.
The Needs Assessment phase of INTERPOL’s Project would be followed by a Training Phase and an Operational Phase. It was explained that during the Training Phase of the Project, Officers from different agencies in Guyana would be invited to benefit from a number of Regional Training Courses which will span a total of seven weeks. The training will focus primarily on Law Enforcement, but there would also be sessions which would benefit trafficking in persons stakeholders from other agencies.
A ‘Training of Trainers’ would be one of the courses included. As such, those trained would be encouraged to return to Guyana to train others – both law enforcement and otherwise – in the topics learned. INTERPOL would also share a curriculum, to be contributed to by authorities in Guyana, which is intended to be added to the training programme at the Guyana Police Force Officers’ Training Centre.
The Operational Phase would see INTERPOL lend support to the countries being considered in the Project in their local anti-trafficking in persons operations. The Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons eagerly anticipates the development of this Project and looks forward to continued collaboration with INTERPOL as well as other international partners as it seeks to effectively combat this scourge of trafficking in persons in Guyana.