By Mark DaCosta- Washington’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report, issued by the United States Department of State, leaves Guyana in the top tier but records a clear retreat in the care of victims. Our nation keeps its place among the best-rated countries, yet the findings show it losing ground where it matters most: supporting people who have already been harmed.
The ranking and the criticism sit uneasily together. Tier 1 is reserved for governments judged to meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking and to sustain serious effort. Beneath that headline, assessors found that Guyanese authorities opened fewer investigations, identified and referred fewer victims to services, spent less on protection and prevention, and shut some shelters.
The figures show why the concern is real. For 2025, the report counts 390 victims: 296 women and eight girls caught in sex trafficking, 85 men forced into labour, and one boy exploited in a way the report leaves unspecified. Just 25 were referred to care. Most were foreigners. Some 375 came from Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, India and Colombia, while only 15 were Guyanese.
A year earlier, the report recorded 302 women and eight girls in sex trafficking, along with 104 men and one boy in labour trafficking. The modest fall should bring little comfort. When investigations decline, a lower count may reflect weaker detection rather than less exploitation.
Money and shelter capacity tell much of the story. Government allocations for victim services, including support to non-governmental shelters, fell from GY$132.6 million in 2024 to GY$116.9 million in 2025. The state had previously funded four shelters for adults and one for children, and in July 2025 it completed a 30-person transition home for victims in the voluntary reflection period, when police questioning is barred. Yet NGOs reported that some shelters closed during 2025, which they said may have exposed some victims to renewed exploitation. Organisations also struggle to assist foreign victims because of language barriers, a practical problem for a victim population drawn from so many countries.
The machinery for finding victims drew criticism too. Guyana has procedures for identifying victims and a national referral mechanism, but some NGOs say it excludes them once a suspected victim enters state care, making its effectiveness hard to judge. Screening was uneven among at-risk groups. Authorities say they check Chinese national workers on arrival and inspect their worksites, yet no victims were identified there.
The report also points to weak oversight of recruitment agencies, the continued charging of placement fees to workers, and trafficking risks at China-affiliated worksites. Victims who assist prosecutions receive legal counselling, transport and preparation, but the courts remain slow. The report cites major criminal trials, trafficking cases among them, taking as long as four years.
One development drew a more favourable verdict. In 2025, some 370 Cuban state-affiliated workers were in Guyana under a bilateral health arrangement. When Georgetown sought fair labour conditions for them and moved to address forced-labour concerns, Havana ended the agreement at the start of 2026. Guyanese authorities offered all the workers direct employment and protection, and about 110 stayed while the rest went home. The report credits our country with acting on those concerns.
To grasp the document’s weight, it helps to know what it is. The Trafficking in Persons Report is published annually by the US government through the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. It reviews worldwide compliance with minimum standards on sex trafficking and labour trafficking, including domestic servitude, forced child labour and debt bondage.
Governments are placed in one of four tiers (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List and Tier 3) according to their laws, enforcement, victim protection and prevention. The findings draw on American embassies, foreign governments, international and non-governmental organisations, published studies, news reports and academic research, and governments may submit their own data during the reporting cycle.
Importantly, placement reflects government effort, not the size of a country’s problem. Last year’s methodology note stressed that Tier 1 does not mean a country has no trafficking problem or is doing enough.
The report identifies migrants, women, children, and people from rural and minority communities as the most exposed. Forced labour turns up in mining, agriculture, forestry, construction, domestic work and small shops, while women and children from Guyana and neighbouring countries are exploited in sex trafficking, especially in the remote mining communities of the interior.
According to an analyst, the lesson for our nation is plain. Tier 1 reflects effort already made and guarantees nothing about next year. If funding keeps shrinking, shelters keep closing and prosecutions keep dragging, the gap between Guyana’s reputation and its record will widen. Protecting the vulnerable, particularly the foreign victims who are easiest to overlook, will decide whether the ranking can be defended.
