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Guyana will be observing World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on July 30 with emphasis being placed on migrant workers who are lured here under the guise of well-paid job opportunities only to be manipulated and abused financially, physically or sexually.
The Counter-Trafficking in Persons Unit (C-TIP), Ministry of Social Protection is spearheading a week of activities leading up to the day, which is being observed under the theme “Embracing Diversity, Reducing Vulnerabilities, Promoting Safe Migration.”
In a release the ministry said to kick- start the weeklong events, blue balloons will be released on the Sea Wall on Monday, July 27 by TIP survivors and Ministry’s officials. The balloons represent the grief of those who were trafficked, while acting as a reminder of the cold-heartedness of individuals who exploit their fellow human beings for their own personal gains. Furthermore, to get the public involved the C-TIP Unit will initiate “TIP In The Streets” – a vox populi – which will allow members of the public on Tuesday, July 28 to express their views on TIP related issues in Guyana. The exercise will also facilitate the C-TIP team to distribute pertinent information and encourage persons to make reports of any suspected TIP activity.
Members of the public will be able to “Join the Conversation with the TIP Team” during a live Facebook panel discussion titled “COVID and its Impact on Trafficking in Persons and the Migrant Population in Guyana.” Representatives from the C-TIP Unit, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Ministerial Task Force on TIP and Department of Citizenship will be the panelists when the discussion commences at 10:00 on Wednesday, July 29 on the Ministry’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mospgy.
The conversation continues with a ZOOM C-TIP Virtual Discussion on July 30, where the opportunities of expanding psychosocial support and shelter for VoTs in outlying regions will be discussed. Members of the public can tune in to the 45 minute programme on the Ministry’s Facebook page on Thursday, July 30 from 15:00 h. Members of the panel will include members from the C-TIP Unit, TIP National Task Force and IMO. The week-long celebration culminates on Friday, July 31 with hampers distribution to TIP survivors.
For the fourth consecutive year, Guyana has maintained its Tier 1 ranking for its efforts to combat human trafficking, although the government has been called upon to to implement and train law enforcement officials and front-line responders in written trauma-informed victim identification and referral procedures.
According to the latest United States’ State Department report on Trafficking in Persons (TIP), Guyana and the Bahamas are the only two Caribbean countries to attain the Tier 1 ranking, as most of the other Caribbean countries are on Tier 2, except for Barbados which is on the Tier 2 watchlist.
According to the report, the Government of Guyana fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking as it continued to demonstrate serious and sustained efforts during the reporting year, hence its Tier 1 ranking.
The efforts by the government included the completion of a draft amendment of the Combatting Trafficking of Persons Act, sentencing a convicted trafficker to 15 years in prison, drafting a national action plan to eliminate child labour, completing standard operating procedures for investigating and prosecuting trafficking cases, and opening its first trafficking shelter outside Georgetown.
The report stated that over the last five years, human traffickers have exploited domestic and foreign victims in Guyana, and traffickers have exploited victims from Guyana abroad. Women and children from Guyana, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Suriname, and Venezuela become sex trafficking victims in mining communities in the interior and urban areas.
“The government notes a large increase in the number of trafficking victims from Venezuela,” the report said. It added that the authorities identified child victims of sex trafficking as well as forced labour in the fast-growing extractive and service industries. These traffickers exploit victims in labour trafficking in mining, agriculture, forestry, domestic service, and in shops. And while both sex trafficking and labour trafficking occur in remote interior mining communities, limited government presence in the country’s interior renders the full extent of trafficking unknown. Traffickers exploit Guyanese nationals in sex and labour trafficking in Jamaica, Suriname, and other Caribbean countries.
