TRAFFICKING in Persons is the violation of a person’s human rights and it has become a global phenomenon affecting the most vulnerable amongst us in both developing and developed countries. Guyana is no exception and following years of neglect by the previous administration, the scourge was allowed to fester.  However, the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, following its assumption of office in May 2015, implemented measures to effectively and efficiently tackle the issue, which has led to the country improving its ranking to ‘Tier 1’ on the TIP watch list.

Trafficking in Persons (TIP) or human-trafficking involves the recruitment, transport, transfer or harbouring of persons using threats, force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception or the abuse of power or position of vulnerability of another person for the purpose of exploitation, sexual or otherwise. It involves the exchange of payments or benefits.

President David Granger, speaking at the launch of the National Plan of Action for the Prevention and Response to Trafficking in Persons 2017-2018 on January 18, 2017, acknowledged that Trafficking in Persons is a serious crime and a violation of human rights. The Head of State described it as a crime against humanity, which constitutes a form of modern-day slavery.  He said it is an affront to civilised society — denial of human rights, particularly of freedom from human servitude. The President reminded that the Constitution and Laws of Guyana “explicitly prohibit trafficking in persons.”  Persons, who are victims or potential victims of trafficking, President Granger noted, are entitled to the protection of the law. However, he expressed dismay that under the previous administration much was not done to ensure that citizens were protected from the grip of human traffickers.

“I recall that as Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly I brought a motion on Wednesday 22nd May, 2013, four years ago, calling for the establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate the crime of trafficking in persons.

I urged the government of the day to lift the veil on trafficking in persons and to stop denying that the crime was taking place; denying that it needed to be eliminated. I added then the denial of the existence of trafficking in persons in Guyana makes matters worse,” he said. The President noted further that “I told the National Assembly then that trafficking in persons was a form of modern-day slavery. I warned that trafficking was a crime of international jurisdiction and the culprits could be prosecuted for it in any part of the world. That motion titled ‘Appointment of a Commission of Inquiry to Investigate the Incidence of Trafficking in Persons in Guyana’ was approved by the National Assembly, but to our country’s shame, it was never assented to and it was never implemented by the national President at the time.”

However, things were to change, President Granger was sworn in as
President on May 16, 2015, two years after. “I immediately changed the name of the Ministry of Human Services to that of the Ministry of Social Protection. I also changed the name of the Ministry of Home Affairs to that of the Ministry of Public Security,” he noted. These change were to emphasise the state’s responsibility for the protection of its vulnerable citizens and the security of the public and both ministries, he noted, are in the forefront of the struggle to ensure that trafficking in persons is eliminated.

The National Plan of Action against Human Trafficking was deemed by the President as his Government’s response to the need for the effective enforcement of the laws prohibiting trafficking in persons.  The Head of State said that human-trafficking must be confronted “fearlessly, frontally and fully,” with the legal framework being backed by the plan of action, which is aimed at eventually eliminating trafficking in Guyana. The Head of State said the previous administration’s efforts to combat trafficking in persons often reflected “the notorious indifference of indecisiveness to the crime.”

The seriousness of the crime, he noted, was de-emphasised with few efforts made to combat trafficking in a systematic way. Making reference to the annual dossier issued by the United States Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which reports on trafficking in persons around the world, President Granger said the past Government had failed to implement the report’s recommendations. “It has denied the validity of the reports, disparaged its findings and dismissed them. My sense of decency prevents me from repeating some of the language used to describe some of the previous issues of the report.
The Government of Guyana today is solving the problem, not suppressing bad news. We are successfully prosecuting traffickers. We are collaborating with counter-trafficking non-governmental organisations, international organisations and friendly countries; we are strengthening the inter-ministerial coordination of our efforts,” President Granger said.

The intervention techniques being employed by the Government of Guyana through the Countering of Trafficking in Persons Unit of the Ministry of Social Protection have proven successful over the years, Social Protection Minister Amna Ally indicated, with the number of identified alleged victims steadily increasing, an indication that more persons are trusting of the administration to report cases.

In 2016 there were approximately 59 identified alleged victims with that number increasing to 98 this year and with support from the Countering of TIP department, these persons have received the counselling and assistance they need to move on with their lives.  For this year there have been three cases with two convictions. One person found guilty is currently serving three years imprisonment and restitution of $100,000; and the second conviction $100,000 restitution to the victim, unfortunately, the ministry lost one of the cases due to insufficient evidence.

The previous government failed to convict anyone for this crime, progress on the prosecution of criminal cases was at snail’s pace due to the backlog of cases and incorrectly filed paperwork, among other factors, including inadequate attention at the state level to tackle the scourge and allegations of bribery for rulings in favour of traffickers. During that era, there was limited public awareness of the existence of the problem in Guyana, despite global statistics indicating that over 30 million persons are enslaved every year in the cycle of exploitation.

In the decade preceding the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, the PPP administration failed to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons in Guyana, even with the existence of the anti-human trafficking law. Minister Ally noted that “the previous administration, I would believe did not place emphasis on human lives and human development and we found that many of the people, maybe they were not cooperating with the previous administration, but we find that they are more open to speak with us, they welcome the raids that we have been carrying out … and so our programme on a daily basis, though difficult, we intensified them and we found that from 2015 to now the numbers in these cases [have been] reduced.”

In its recommendations, this year’s TIP report called on the Government to fund specialised victim services, vigorously investigate and prosecute sex and labour-trafficking cases, impose more stringent sentences, training for law enforcement, judiciary officials, and frontline responders, finalise the written identification procedures to better guide law enforcement officials, provide additional protection for victims and provide training for diplomatic personnel on human trafficking. Following its release, Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence, who held the portfolio of Minister of Social Protection in 2015, said the recommendations are all on the Government’s agenda to combat frontally the issue of human trafficking. She said it is the political will to bring to an end this form of modern slavery.

It was the expectation of the Government of Guyana that the report would have highlighted the significant strides made from 2015 to present by the Coalition Government to improve its ranking. “We came in, we built this section, we got the task force going, we came up with an Action Plan and so we are working towards that, it is a work in progress, we started off where we were on ‘Tier 2’ and we went to ‘Tier 2’ watch list today we’re on ‘Tier 1’; it tells you that the Government is doing what it is mandated to do, that is to protect its citizens, we haven’t been able to accomplish everything, but we believe that the focus and the plan that we have will certainly get us there,” the minister said.

Minister Lawrence said the Coalition Government recognising and acknowledging the existence of TIP from within and outside the country sought not only to increase the number of requisite personnel in the Counter Trafficking in Persons department, but to build partnerships, giving further credence to the sentiments expressed by Minister Ally. “The second thing we sought to do was to work with the NGOs and an MoU was signed with the Sisters of Mercy, so that we could have a place for the victims where they could be protected, where we could be able to get them to get their lives back together  so we have been trying to meet the minimum standards, the Task Force then kicked in …and if you note, the Task Force that we have is not just a Task Force with representatives, but you have the Minister of Public Security heading that Task Force with the Minister of Social Protection, the Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs and the Minister of Health sitting on that Task Force, and I think that says quite a lot as to how the Granger Administration deals with this matter,” she highlighted.

The Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons of the Ministry of Public Security has held a number of training courses not only for officers handling TIP cases, but for prosecutors, equipping them with the necessary skills to successfully present a trafficking in person case in court. The training enables them to use evidence effectively to prove that perpetrators are guilty. These prosecutions are in line with the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act No.2 of 2005, while taking international best practices into consideration.

This year’s TIP report said that the inter-ministerial taskforce, which is headed by Minister of Public Security, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, coordinated a number of successful police operations. It noted that in 2016, the government reported 19 trafficking investigations, 19 prosecutions, and two convictions; compared to 15 trafficking investigations, seven prosecutions, and one conviction in 2015, and seven investigations, four prosecutions, and one conviction in 2014. The court sentenced one convicted trafficker to three years imprisonment and required a restitution payment to the victim; it required the second trafficker only to pay restitution, a penalty inconsistent with the law and one that the anti-trafficking task force appealed.

The appeal remained pending at the end of the reporting period.  It further stated that the government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human-trafficking offences; however, authorities confirmed that the police officer who was convicted of sex-trafficking in 2015 was terminated from his position in the police force.

Minister Ally acknowledged that while work is being done in the interior locations, much more needs to be done to sensitise those persons living in remote and Indigenous communities. She said the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs, which has representation on the Ministerial Task Force against TIP has been collaborating with the other agencies to conduct awareness sessions and assist persons who are victims of human-trafficking.

Coordinator of the Countering Trafficking in Persons Department, Tanisha Williams-Corbin, speaking with Government in Action, said that the unit has been conducting and will continue to conduct Structured Awareness sessions with community leaders in the 10 administrative regions to bring greater awareness of what Trafficking in Persons is and how they as leaders can assist the Ministry of Social Protection in the fight against it.  She said much emphasis will be placed on psychosocial support for victims of the dreaded crime.

According to the coordinator, “we would be bringing stakeholders together to talk about how we can improve the services, also big on that agenda we would be exploring the possibility or the feasibility of putting shelters in other administrative regions…and from that we would be able to determine what our next steps are as it relates to victim support.”

In recognition of the recommendations presented by the U.S. State Department, the ministry, specifically the TIP Unit would be placing a lot of emphasis on psychosocial support for victims of TIP and is currently meeting, as part of its 2017 work programme, with consultants to determine the way forward with its local documentary highlighting the impacts of TIP and raising awareness country-wide. Programmes in the schools and distribution of education paraphernalia on human-trafficking continue to be an ongoing feature at the ministerial level.

Looking forward, Ms Williams-Corbin said the TIP Unit will be launching a Blaze Campaign, which will be focused on Primary School students, who had not been targeted in previous years. “We are looking at how to bridge the gap between the parents and the children as it relates to TIP, so we’ll be having some campaigns focusing on the parents and we would be having some campaigns focusing on the children, so we would be looking at some key areas, our stats would be guiding us on the way forward there,” Ms. Williams-Corbin said. A week of activities is on the ministry’s calendar in observance of World Day against Trafficking in Persons on July 30, 2017, including mini-exhibitions key areas such as the Giftland Mall, Linden and Bartica.

Additionally, the Trafficking in Persons report said that the Government of Guyana has increased its law enforcement efforts, pointing out that the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2005 prohibits all forms of trafficking and prescribes sufficiently stringent penalties ranging from three years to life imprisonment. These penalties, it noted, are commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. The Ministry of Social Protection was the lead agency responsible for coordinating trafficking efforts and overseeing the Anti-Trafficking Unit (ATU) and in May 2016, the ATU added three new officers responsible for planning and executing the unit’s site visits and victim-extraction exercises.

The Government of Guyana is committed to enhancing education and by strengthening enforcement in order to eliminate the scourge of Trafficking in Persons entirely. The strict enforcement of human trafficking laws, President Granger said, requires action on a wide range of fronts, sensitising the public to the trafficking of persons and building institutional capacity to enforce the law. Public education, understanding and support are vital to success in eliminating the crime, since, according to the Head of State; Trafficking in persons is not fully or clearly understood by the average citizen and is often confused with backtracking. Hence, the Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Social Protection with support from other agencies and stakeholders, are working arduously to gradually remove TIP from the country.