-requires successful prosecution, says Minister Ramjattan

 With human traffickers generating hundreds of billions of dollars in profits globally, Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan said successful prosecution can aid in putting a major dent into the trade of humans.

“We have to ensure that we cut the profits out of the trade, one such tool of course, is deterrence through successful investigation and prosecution,” Minister Ramjattan has said.

Though Guyana is making strides in its fight to combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP), Minister Ramjattan, who sits at the helm of the Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons, said there is a need to address the factors affecting the successful prosecution of human trafficking.

He explained that while there has been an increase in TIP cases in the court, language barrier and the absence of interpreters at times, refusal by victims to testify and the altering of statements by victims and witnesses due to fear are among factors that cause cases to fall apart in some instances even before they reach the court.

Minister Ramjattan, at the time, was delivering the keynote address during a discussion forum on the Prosecution of Trafficking in Persons Cases in Guyana at the Regency Hotel on Saturday.

Weighing in on the issue, Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, who attended the forum alongside Minister of Social Protection Amna Ally, said based on a report from the Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, the Guyana Police Force has been instituting charges against suspected traffickers but has been unable to complete the files in a timely manner, resulting in victims being unwilling to give evidence and dismal of cases for want of prosecution.

The Chancellor, like Minister Ramjattan, underscored the importance of having interpreters, and noted that some foreign nationals, who legally entered Guyana but overstayed their time, are often times reluctant to testify either because of fear of deportation or of being charged. In some cases, foreign nationals, who were trafficked, returned home, before giving evidence or the provision of sufficient information for the prosecution of the suspected trafficker.

Another factor affecting the successful prosecution of cases is settlement among the victims and the suspected traffickers. “Many victims are poor and settle for payment and therefore never appear to give evidence,” Justice Cummings-Edwards explained while noting that many human trafficking cases are not reported.

WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Painting a picture of the overall situation in Guyana, Justice Cummings-Edwards said women and children are often times the victims. “Our young people and our women are lured with offers of well-paying jobs and are subsequently exploited and controlled through threats, withholding of pay or insufficient pay, and even physical violence. We have incidences of these occurrences predominantly in our interior and mining regions,” she explained and underscored the need to address the loopholes in the system that prevent the suspected persons of these heinous crimes from being successfully prosecuted.

The Ministerial Task Force with support from the Countering-Trafficking in Person Unit, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Guyana Women Miners Association (GWMO) and the International Organisation for Migration among other organisations has been equipping police investigators and prosecutors with the requisite skills and knowledge needed to prosecute TIP cases while raising much needed awareness among school-aged children, young people, and persons operating within the country’s interior.

In keeping with the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act 2005, victims and witnesses are provided with the necessary support.

“We feel that all of that though necessary is not sufficient and will not be sufficient unless of course we start further training of our police prosecutors and other key stakeholders inclusive of magistrates and judges and social workers, so that they can increase their capabilities and capacities to help prosecute traffickers…,” Minister Ramjattan said.

It is believed that additional work ought to be done on several grey areas including the need for more efficient prosecutions, victim identification and support and referral. Faster response times and more vigorous investigations are areas ought to be improved to allow the country to remain on its Tier 1 in the U.S State Department Trafficking in Persons’ Report, and attract greater investors and tourists.

The Minister of Social Protection expressed similar sentiments. “We recognise that the problem of human trafficking requires well-trained law enforcement officials, prosecutors, social workers, medical practitioners among others who are sensitive to the issues, conversant with the criminality, familiar with the law and attuned to best practice at the international level for us to be successful in all areas of combating trafficking,” Minister Ally said.

The social protection minister strongly believes that successful convictions of offenders, redress of grievances of victims as well as the protection of the rights of victims and prevention of crimes of trafficking are possible when first responders and particularly law enforcement, prosecutors and magistrates perform their tasks diligently. She said this could only be done if they are informed, trained, and prepared to effectively handle such sensitive cases.

HARMONISED WORK

For Minister Ally, it is important for all stakeholders to work in a harmonised fashion – such a move is necessary to produce the desired results.

According to the stats provided by the public security minister, in 2018, 32 Trafficking in Persons reports were recorded involving 243 alleged victims and 57 suspected traffickers. Of the 243 alleged victims, 11 were under 18.

Minister Ramjattan further detailed from 162 of the alleged victims hailed from Venezuela, 21 from Guyana, 49 from Cuba, and 10 from the Dominican Republic. Others were from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica.

According to him, the Guyana Police Force filed 36 charges; however, only 10 were directly related to TIP. Also in 2018, there were two convictions based on cases from 2014 and 2015.

Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan was also among the participants on Saturday who were drawn from the Judiciary, the Guyana Police Force, the Department of Public Prosecution, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Social Protection.