US claims ‘official complicity’ in human trafficking here

Jun 28, 2011 News

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…Manickchand calls for the evidence

The United States has accused the government here of failing to take action against “official complicity” in human trafficking, but Priya Manickchand, the Minister of Human Services and Social Security, denies this, She wants the US Government to supply the evidence.
In its Annual Trafficking in Persons Report, the US Department of State report lists Guyana as a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour.
However, Guyana has been sized down on the reports ranking list. This country has been removed from the so-called Tier-2 Watch List, and has been placed on just Tier 2. This is something Manickchand has agitated for, and so she is pleased with the ranking, since it indicates the country is taking substantive action in fighting the trafficking of persons.
She told Kaieteur News that every year the report becomes “curiouser and curioser.” On the issue of “official complicity” Manickchand said the US has a “moral duty” to provide this country with this sort of information because it is only then that those who allow trafficking or seek to cover it up can be dealt with condignly.
Manickchand said at the moment she is unaware that any public officer could be involved in or could be covering up human trafficking. If the US knows of this, she said, why this information could not be provided to the authorities?
Trafficking in Persons is defined by the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) as compelling someone into service using a number of different terms: involuntary servitude, slavery, debt bondage, and forced labour.
The annual report serves as the primary diplomatic tool through which the U.S. Government encourages partnership and increased determination in the fight against forced labour, sexual exploitation, and modern-day slavery.
Manickchand said the government has never sought to deny human trafficking, but she said aspects of the report are inaccurate and unfair.
The report identified cases of human trafficking in Guyana as involving women and girls in forced prostitution, while noting that Guyanese nationals have been subjected to forced prostitution and forced labour in other countries in the Caribbean.
The report states that people in domestic service in Guyana are vulnerable to human trafficking, and instances of the common Guyanese practice of poor, rural families sending children to live with higher-income family members or acquaintances in more populated areas sometimes transforms into domestic servitude.
Other groups particularly vulnerable to human trafficking in Guyana include women in prostitution, children working in hazardous conditions, and foreign workers, the report stated.
It also charges that Guyanese from rural, economically depressed areas are particularly vulnerable to trafficking in mining areas and urban centres.
“Trafficking victims in Guyana face disincentives to self-identify to authorities due to fear of retribution from trafficking offenders, fear of resettlement to abusive home situations, fear of arrest, and lack of awareness that human trafficking is a crime,” the report states.
The report claims that the Government of Guyana does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but “it is making significant efforts to do so.”
Manickchand rebutted the report’s claim that continued rhetoric from higher levels of the government has minimized the potential scope of human trafficking.
The report recommends that the Guyana government “foster a climate in which officials and NGOs are encouraged to discuss human trafficking vulnerabilities openly with the government and feel empowered to assist potential victims throughout the country, instead of being constrained by public statements that the problem is small.”
Manickchand said that this comment is unfair since the report fails to highlight the fact that two organisations which are no friends of the government have complained to the Department of State that last year’s report does not reflect the true situation in Guyana.
She said Guyana’s more favourable ranking this year is as a result of protests against last year’s report.
Manickchand had publicly called last year’s report, which placed Guyana on the Tier 2 Watch List, “crap.”
The report said that while NGOs reported overall good working-level relations with anti-trafficking officials, some local observers expressed concern that pressure from senior officials may have prompted some lower-level officials to suppress information to avoid drawing attention to trafficking in Guyana.
According to the report, there was evidence that some trafficking victims were penalized for crimes committed as a direct result of being in a trafficking situation. It quotes local observers as noting that other potential victims may have been sent to the juvenile detention center, and one victim was arrested and charged with “wandering” as a result of her trafficking experience during the reporting period, according media reports.
“The government did not enact formal provisions ensuring legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to their home countries where they may face hardship or retribution,” the report stated.
Manickchand said that it was unfair for State Department to refer to “observers” who are unknown in preparing its report which affects the entire country.
This year’s report has called on the government to identify and help more potential victims of sex and labor trafficking throughout the country; empower and fund or offer in-kind support to NGOs to identify and actively help the women, men and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking; develop policies to ensure all identified victims are helped and not punished for crimes committed as a direct result of being in a forced prostitution or forced labor situation; vigorously and appropriately investigate and prosecute forced prostitution and forced labour, including trafficking complicity; raise awareness of forced labor and forced prostitution and opportunities for help in and around mining areas in addition to Georgetown and coastal areas.
The report noted that the government made limited progress in holding human trafficking offenders in Guyana accountable during the reporting period, while pointing out that four new sex trafficking investigations were initiated last year and authorities initiated two new prosecutions against sex trafficking offenders as compared to the previous reporting period.
For the first time, the report noted, authorities reported a conviction of an offender who received a three-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.
The report pointed out that local experts believe, and media reporting suggests, that some government officials are making a good-faith effort to obtain convictions in human trafficking cases.
Officials and other local experts also view Guyana’s legal system as largely dysfunctional and an ineffective deterrent against human trafficking, the report stated.
The credibility of the government’s anti-trafficking task force was called into question, given what the report said was its denial of the existence of forced labour.
“According to several media reports, authorities removed a domestic servant complaining of forced labour and sexual assault by her private employers,” the report noted, but said that the government reported no follow up investigation of this case for potential human trafficking even after it helped broker a deal.
The report said the government made limited progress in protecting victims of trafficking during the reporting period, with only three cases of forced prostitution noted and no forced labor victims during the reporting period.
“In a positive development during the reporting period, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission officials found during routine inspections children working in gold mines, a warning sign of potential human trafficking, and ordered the mine operators to remove the children; the government did not report on any subsequent action to refer the children to protective services or hold the mine owners accountable,” the report stated.
The government’s $50,000 assistance to a local shelter was noted in the report.
The report noted that while anti-trafficking awareness materials were distributed throughout the country, and President Bharrat Jagdeo  addressed the issue of forced and bonded labor during a speech, the government continued to focus public comments on propagating a position that there are few trafficking victims in Guyana instead of fostering awareness, open discussion, credible research of the problem, and a self-critical approach to monitoring government efforts.
The report also noted that the government has not updated its national action plan to combat trafficking in persons since 2005.

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