Media to get training on reporting on TIP

…as govt rolls out packed programme for 2017

IN an effort to combat Trafficking In Persons (TIP) here, Government, through its Ministerial Task Force will be partnering with several organisations in its training and awareness campaigns in 2017.

Training had already started in 2016 with the Ministry of Social Protection empowering and equipping with certificates some 38 staff of several organisations, including relevant government ministries, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Guyana Defense Force (GDF). Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes had also organised a seminar to train several GGMC officers in identifying and dealing with TIP cases in the mining districts in 2016.

Acting Coordinator of the Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons (TIP), Oliver Profitt told the Guyana Chronicle in an interview that several other agencies are to receive training in identifying and correct handling of TIP matters. The justice sector will benefit from such programmes, and the media will also be trained in identifying and reporting TIP issues.

A special programme will be designed to get students more involved in the fight against TIP, while they will be enlightened too on how to identify and resist suspicious offers, he said. Profitt told the Guyana Chronicle that government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had collaborated and started a programme in schools to address TIP issues. Now, the Task Force is getting students more involved through participation in public campaigns.

“We want to look at some schools… (we want to have) more interaction and give students (the) opportunity for more interaction,” he said through brochure, poster and other commercial designing opportunities. The Ministerial Task Force on TIP includes staff of the Ministry of Public Security (which is the head of the Task Force), Ministry of Social Protection (TIP Unit and Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA)), and fifteen other agencies including the GGMC, GPF, Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO), Help and Shelter, Food for the Poor and other non-governmental and governmental organisations.

Just recently Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally said every citizen should join the fight to end the scourge of human trafficking, a horrific social problem which “strips all victims of their rights: the right to make their own decisions; the right not to be violated in any form; the right to trade their labour freely; the right to wages when they work; and the right to communicate freely with whom they choose among a long list of others.”

She said that when those rights are forcibly snatched away or are extended illegally, beyond their limits, it becomes a crime. “Trafficking is also a debasement of our common humanity and it ought to concern every nation, every community, because it strips down our social fabric. These human trafficking perpetrators commit merciless and criminal acts on persons from dysfunctional families and others extremely anxious to improve their lives and therefore make life-changing decisions on the basis of false promises made to them,” she said. She said government is committed this year to uphold the United Nations TIP theme for 2017 and bring restoration to the representation of the rights of all.

“Victims of this sort of crime are stripped of their right but I can assure you that we will work to put the right back into the rights guaranteed to all our citizens. As a modern civilized nation we must reject such inhuman injustice and cruelty. Our government is dedicated to eradicating the scourge of human trafficking from our society and will pursue all perpetrators wherever they operate,” Minister Ally said.

She said while government is working assiduously in ensuring perpetrators face the law, all Guyanese must be aware of human trafficking signs and report suspected cases. “Some of these signs include limited social interaction; lack of access to education; lack of access to their parents or guardians; being prevented from communicating with people especially if the ‘boss’ is around. As we become increasingly aware of the illegal practice let us not forget that we all have the right to report even our slightest suspicion of this crime in our communities,” Minister Ally said.

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