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There is no denying the truth
Jul 11, 2013 Editorial
Just over a decade ago there was no person in Guyana who would not have proclaimed from the roof tops that this country could boast of its record as a place where human trafficking did not exist. Human trafficking was something that occurred in other countries but not in Guyana.
There were reports of a few young girls running away but that was nothing to worry about. Theirs was the case of raging hormones; at least, that was what the authorities concluded. Parents were not worried that their children were being trafficked. The children simply disappeared of their own volition.
The United States of America, however, was not so inclined to believe that suggestion. It insisted that Guyana put measures in place to curb the human trafficking that was taking place. Of course the Guyana Government was incensed, and with good reason. It had no record of human trafficking and no one but the United States was making such a claim.
Sometimes might is right. If the United States contended that there was human trafficking then Guyana must do something to show that it is not a country that would tolerate such lawlessness. Of course, it was forced to modify its legislation and so moved slightly up the ladder from a position where it was on a Watch List to a Tier Two.
Guyana did prepare legislation that made Trafficking in Persons a criminal offence. The Americans were happy but Guyana was angry because there was not an iota of evidence that human trafficking was something that Guyana needed to worry about. At least this was what the authorities believed. They did not pay too much attention to the reports of girls being brought from the North West District to work along the coast; they did not pay too much attention to girls being moved to Suriname.
The Americans were certain that Guyana was happy to be like the ostrich, with its head in the sand in the face of human trafficking.
Today, it turns out that Guyana is a hotbed of human trafficking. This is fuelled by the poverty that stalks the land. There are young women who are besieged by the various advertisements that proclaim all the things that young women should have. Having them is another matter, especially when every bit of spare income is needed for the pot or for some article of basic living.
And it is not that some of the mothers have the moral fortitude that is needed to keep families together. The result is that girls barely into puberty run to use their bodies to get those things that they feel are being denied them.
They respond to the promises of untold wealth without realizing that there is really nothing there. To its credit, the government has put measures in place to ensure that underage girls do not enter the hinterland. There are monitors at crossings but again the lure of money can open any door and cause many to turn a blind eye to real situations.
We have now found that the very people put at the crossings to keep child sex out of the interior actually prey on the very child being taken into the interior. Two of them are in custody for demanding sex as a bribe.
And despite the protestations of the administration a woman has uncovered a sex ring that is so large that it defies imagination. Dozens of young girls are lured to the interior and become sex slaves. Before long they desire to get out but that is easier said than done. We have not heard of anyone dying but then again when someone goes missing for a long time the relatives soon give up. There are no police inquiries.
The unfortunate thing is that our administration is not happy with criticisms. President Donald Ramotar has accused all and sundry of meddling in Guyana’s internal affairs. He forgets that he was the one who invited the meddling in the first instance.
But that apart, there is human trafficking and the lid is coming off. It is left to the law enforcers to nab the movers of this curse.
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