THE Ministry of Public Security on Thursday held a walkabout at Bourda Market in observance of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons (TIP) 2016.During the exercise, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan and a team from his ministry interacted with vendors and others he encountered.

Members of the team distributed flyers, key rings, bags and posters on TIPs information and the hotline number they are urged to call if they recognise instances of TIP.

Ramjattan, speaking to the media on the walkabout, said that the U.S. State Department’s report on TIP in Guyana has caused the ministry to feel that they must do something on public awareness locally about the crime.

He added that TIP is, however, a worldwide phenomenon with 20 million persons being affected, especially females.
The minister referred to TIP, especially in the mining community and around nightclubs and bars in the city.

Ramjattan said, “We also want to emphasise that it is not only for sexual exploitation, this crime has to do with the abduction of people, labour exploitation where they pay them the wages of slaves with poor living conditions. We have seen that girls from coastal areas are going in the interior and they are exploited there. Then some of our Amerindian girls are coming out to the city and are being fooled that they will get domestic jobs and so on, but they are exploited on the labour level and sexually as well.”

He pointed out that TIP in their books is a crime, since they have passed the TIP Act and they want to bring public awareness.

Ramjattan explained that there are several aspects of TIP awareness; as such, they will play a part in enforcing those by having probes, protection for victims and creating more public sensitisation.

He noted that with their awareness campaign, he is hoping that citizens will call in via the hotline number 227-4038 if they see strange things happening to girls and women in their communities.

The minister said that in an effort to stamp out TIP locally, they need the inputs of citizens, because it is vital that we cut this crime out from rearing its ugly head in a bigger way.

The Ministry of Social Protection Counter-Trafficking in Persons Unit is in partnership with the Ministry of Public Security Ministerial Task Force on TIP, which has adopted a zero tolerance policy for human trafficking.

The government of Guyana has made significant progress in combating TIP and has approached this phenomenon by focusing on four perspectives: prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership.

This administration enacted legislation to combat TIP in 2015 by implementing a National Plan of Action on TIP that is revised annually.

The government has had continuous campaigns on public awareness and sensitization in communities throughout the 10 administrative regions. There are also regular capacity-building programmes to prevent persons from becoming victims of TIP. (Michel Outridge)