Trafficking in persons is modern day slavery

Jun 26, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I read with interest, an article in SN, June 23, 2010 at page 13 captioned, “US Stands by trafficking in persons report”. I was somewhat disappointed and it can be described as consternation, when I grasped fully the response of Priya Manickchand, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, to the very report. All of this is in the same article.
To fully address the question of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) in Guyana the following would help to give the public a better understanding of what TIP is and I sincerely hope that the very well respected Minister may take some time to review some of what I will mention. Let me also add that the work that this particular minister has done is commendable and, her officers (I speak particularly of staff in Berbice) are putting in a tremendous effort to change people’s lives, for the better.
Trafficking in persons is modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded, or coerced into labour or sexual exploitation. The International Labour Organisation (ILO), the UN agency charged with addressing labour standards, employment, and social protection issues, estimates that 12.3 million people worldwide are enslaved in forced labour, bonded labour, forced child labour, sexual servitude, and involuntary servitude at any given time.
Human trafficking is a multi-dimensional threat, depriving people of their human rights and freedoms, risking global health, promoting social breakdown, inhibiting development by depriving countries of their human capital, and helping fuel the growth of organised crime. In 2000, the US Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), reauthorised in 2003 and 2005, which provides tools for the US to combat trafficking in persons, both domestically and abroad.
One of the law’s key components is the creation of the US Department of State’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which assesses the government response in some 150 countries with a significant number of victims trafficked across their borders who are recruited, harboured, transported, provided, or obtained for forced labour or sexual exploitation. Countries in the annual report are rated in three tiers, based on government efforts to combat trafficking. The countries identified in this entry are those listed in the 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report as Tier 2 Watch List or Tier 3 based on the following definitions:
Tier 1 countries are countries that have fully complied with standards set for the elimination of TIP. In this category are countries like the UK, CANADA, Australia Hong Kong and quite a few others.
Tier 2 Watch List countries do not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but are making significant efforts to do so, and meet one of the following criteria:
1. They display a high or significantly increase in number victims.
2. They have failed to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons.
3. They have committed to take action over the next year.
There is a difference between the Tier 2 placement and Tier 2 watch list that should be noted. If a country is in Tier 2 it means that that country is making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards set for the elimination of TIP. On the other hand if the country is on the Tier 2 watch list, as Guyana is now, it means that Guyana will be specially scrutinized and if efforts are not made then we get promoted to Tier 3.
Tier 3 countries neither satisfy the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking nor demonstrate a significant effort to do so. Countries in this tier are subject to potential non-humanitarian and non-trade sanctions.
Governments that fully comply are placed in Tier 1. Those making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards are placed in Tier 2. Governments that do not fully comply with the minimum standards, and are not making significant efforts to do so, are placed in Tier 3.
In its report, the State Department said Guyana is “principally a source country for men, women, and children trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour.”
It said most trafficking takes place in remote mining camps in the country’s interior, stating that Amerindian girls from the interior also are trafficked to coastal areas for sexual exploitation, and young Amerindian men are exploited under forced labour conditions in timber camps.
The report said, in some instances, victims are abducted, and that Guyanese women and girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation to neighbouring countries, such as Suriname, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Brazil, and the United States.
This placement, that is Guyana being on the Tier 2 Watch List, is based more on the extent of government action to combat trafficking, rather than the size of the problem.
It has been gratifying to witness the determined governments, of many countries, human rights and women’s groups, faith-based organisations, and many brave individuals who are dedicated to advancing human dignity worldwide.
Trafficking in, and exploitation of persons plague all nations, and no country is immune. First, Madame Minister let us admit that we do have a problem with TIP and then the issue should be addressed.
Denial is not a solution it is fuelling the business and I dare say that TIP is very prevalent and very obvious in Guyana. Simply look at some of the reports that your so dedicated officers have presented to the courts and a lot will be discovered in the area of TIP.
This letter should be heeded and treated with some measure of gratification by this government, because it is intended to help the situation not to condemn the Guyana government for having us put on the Tier 2 watch list. I should caution, though, that we may move to Tier 3.
Charrandass Persaud

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