Efforts to stem trafficking in persons still inadequate

Jul 13, 2009 News

ITUC report on Guyana says…

– police, prosecutors inadequately trained

The Government of Guyana’s performance in combating Trafficking In Persons and forced labour is inadequate, and police and prosecutors are inadequately trained to tackle the scourge.
This is according to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) report, which paints a dismal picture of core labour standards in Guyana.
According to the report, although the government has a National Plan of Action to combat human trafficking and implements an educational and awareness campaign in the interior against human trafficking, its performance in prosecuting trafficking offenders and enforcing the law is ‘poor’.
During 2008, there were no convictions under the Trafficking in Persons Act although there are currently six trafficking cases pending in court from 2007.
The report states that Guyanese women and girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation to neighbouring countries, while men and boys are exploited in the sectors of construction and agriculture in these same countries.
Some women trafficked into the country come from Amerindian communities of northern Brazil; most traffickers are believed to be individual entrepreneurs or small groups of miners.
According to the report, the judicial procedures are time-consuming, especially in the courts in the interior of the country, and that contributed to the lack of progress in convicting offenders.
It is reported that trafficking cases have been dismissed because the prosecutors and the other judicial personnel did not have a thorough knowledge of their country’s anti-trafficking laws, and that delays and case dismissals may have discouraged victims from reporting their cases.
The report stated that police officers and prosecutors are also inadequately trained, a fact that has led to the dismissal of trafficking cases.
It noted that although forced labour and trafficking in persons are recognised problems in Guyana, the state agencies and the law enforcers do little to address them.
In 1966, Guyana ratified the ILO Convention, the Forced Labour Convention and Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labour.
The Constitution prohibits forced or compulsory labour, including by children, and the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act, which was enacted in 2005, prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons.
However, the ITUC report states that despite, these offences still occur.
Penalties for trafficking or forced labour range from three years to life imprisonment, forfeiture of property and full restitution to the victims.
In July 2007, the government added human trafficking to its list of most serious crimes.
The ITUC report recommends that the government should build up its law enforcing and judicial capacity in order to monitor and enforce its laws against forced labour and trafficking and start punishing those who commit these crimes.