GWMO urges robust anti-crime efforts in interior

–concerned about ‘free passage’ of girls into mining districts

THE Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) is concerned about the lives of its representatives in Guyana’s hinterland, and the free passage of underage girls into mining districts, although Government has taken steps to end trafficking in persons (TIP) and child labour.

President of the GWMO, Urica Primus, during an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, also questioned the apparent lack of interest in regard to investigating killings that occur in remote interior locations, resulting in many of the capital crimes remaining unsolved.

Primus has said that although “we have a government which has committed itself to fighting trafficking in persons, still some stakeholders in the midst of the process fail to cooperate, and encourage the crime instead.”

The GWMO representative in Region Nine had, in recent months, prevented two 16-year-old girls, one being Brazilian, from being trafficked, and had received death threats that resulted in her being removed from the area.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that the woman activist had, on July 4, observed two young girls at Marudi Landing, central part leading to several backdams in the region. “She went over to the woman who they stopped at and asked her to produce identification for the girls and also the circumstances that led to them being there,” Primus explained.

She said the GWMO representative wanted to know if the girls had travelled to the interior to work, or if they were relatives of the woman whose company they were in. No identification was produced, but she recorded the names of the girls, one of whom was Brazilian; and while the Guyanese girl claimed to be 22 years old, the Brazilian said she was 16.

Further contact with Lethem Police Station revealed the true identity of the Guyanese girl to be a 16-year-old mother of one who was wanted by police, but the girl made good her escape at that very moment.

The GWMO collaborated with the police to assist the Brazilian girl to return home, and that was when fresh trouble began for that GWMO member.

“The following night she started receiving death threats, because they feel as though she is a threat to their current arrangements in the backdam… One other (GWMO) member overheard two men planning as to how they can kill her. It started getting (more) serious (as) one person even came to her shop and threatened her to her face. The threats continued, and after a week she made arrangements for herself to leave the backdam,”Primus detailed.

Primus said the GWMO members supported their colleague’s move, since the GWMO neither wanted to lose a representative nor see her life go down as another unsolved mystery in the hinterland.

“…due to the threats made to the life of our regional representative, we have come to a decision that she would not be going back in; because, at the end of the day, if anything happens to her in there, you can (recall) from case to case of people being killed in mining areas, nothing comes out of it. No one goes to investigate (and) no one gives the family any satisfaction. So we couldn’t risk the same fate happening to one of the members of our organisation.”

Primus also alleged that the Brazilian girl who was rescued complained to the GWMO representative that when she was travelling in to Marudi, “the police officers told her when she coming out they could stay by them and then go out.”

“So here you have underage girls entering the interior under a government that has pledged to stamp out trafficking, and (police), instead of questioning them, inviting them to come and stay at (their) home,” Primus said.

She said the organisation is concerned that young girls are still permitted to enter the hinterland areas even without producing identification documents.

“How it is that young girls are still being allowed to pass the police stations? These girls would have had to pass Aishalton Police Station, and if they had no identification to show in the backdam, it therefore means that they had no identification to show at the checkpoints either,” Primus pointed out.

She said the GWMO has sent letters to various ministries and other stakeholders concerning the issues, and pointed out that in order to seriously combat trafficking in persons, all organisations and agencies involved in combating TIP must play their roles in ensuring potential victims are not allowed into hinterland districts, and that victims are given much support.

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