AN East Coast of Demerara bar owner has been sentenced to three years in prison for trafficking a 14-year-old.

In a statement on Friday, the Social Protection Ministry disclosed that Jagetram Hariram was sentenced to three years in prison and fined $100,000 after being found guilty of recruiting, transporting and harbouring a 14-year-old for the purpose of labour exploitation. The act occurred between February 1, 2016 and March 18, 2016. “This is a testament to the commitment of the Ministry of Social Protection, led by the Honourable Amna Ally, Minister of Social Protection, to purge Guyana from the notoriety associated with being a known source and destination country for which men, women and children are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour,” the ministry stated.

It was noted that the Social Protection Ministry’s Counter – Trafficking in Persons Department has been aggressively tackling human trafficking through training, sensitisation and awareness campaigns and providing victim-support services to survivors of human trafficking. The ministry said that the department work programme for 2018 has commenced with focus on bridging the remaining gaps.

According to the Combatting of Trafficking in Persons Act 2004 forced labour is defined as “labour or services obtained or maintained through force, threat of force or means of coercion or physical restraint.” The act defines a minor as any person below the age of 18. After being ranked on the United States’ Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report as a tier two (2) country for three consecutive years 2013-2015, on June 27, 2017 Guyana was reclassified to tier one (1) status; being a tier one (1) country means the Government has fully met the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards.

Guyana’s new ranking was announced when the State Department published its 2017 TIP report last June and was a result of its implementation of the recommendations listed in the 2016 report. These achievements included approving the 2017-2018 National Action Plan for combating TIP; increasing the number of investigations, prosecutions, and convictions; and identifying and assisting more victims for the second year in a row. The government’s inter-ministerial taskforce had coordinated a number of successful police operations, which resulted in a number of investigations, prosecutions and convictions.

Since 2016, more stringent penalties were enacted for the traffickers. These ranged from three years to life imprisonment.