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Guyana no longer on TIP “Tier 2 Watch List”
US Secretary of State holding a copy of the 2016 TIP Report
The annual Trafficking in Persons report published by the United States Department of State has disclosed that Guyana is no longer on the “Tier 2 Watch List” but has moved up to “Tier 2”.
According to information available on the Department’s website, the Tier 2 Watch list is characterized by countries whose governments do not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
Additionally, such states have an alarmingly high number of victims; the number is significantly rising and there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons (TIP).
On the other hand Tier 2 is categorized by “Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
This improvement in ranking takes Guyana closer to being a Tier 1 state, which is a nation found to be in full compliance with the TVPA’s minimum standards.
The 2016 report has credited the improvement in ranking to the country being able to convict a trafficker who was sentenced to three years in prison. The trafficker was also required to pay restitution to the victim. This represented the first time that a victim received restitution in Guyana.
The report, said “the government reported investigating 15 trafficking cases involving 56 victims, including 16 children, which resulted in seven prosecutions and one sex trafficking conviction, compared with seven investigations, four prosecutions, and one conviction the previous reporting year”.
The report noted that the government had “modestly increased its law enforcement efforts”. It recommends that Guyana should “continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute sex and labour trafficking cases and hold convicted traffickers accountable – including complicit officials – by imposing sentences that are commensurate with the severity of the crime.”
Additionally the US Department of State recommends that law enforcement officials are trained on victim identification, referral to services and victim-centred investigations.
It suggests that more staff should be employed by the inter-ministerial anti-trafficking unit and that government should allocate funding and resources for investigations to be carried out in the mining sector.
Going further, the report recommended that funding should be provided to non-governmental organizations which play a role in identifying and assisting victims.
In January 2016, the government of Guyana signed a memorandum of understanding with an anti-trafficking NGO and provided $600,000 for the provision of enhanced psycho-social services to adult, female trafficking victims. An additional $10 million was given to another NGO which provided housing and counselling services to victims.
The report also recommended that victims should also be allowed to remain in the country to participate in the trial against their trafficker. It was proposed that Government should ensure that “they (victims) are not penalized for crimes committed as a result of being subjected to trafficking”.
Responding to the announcement Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence said TIP is “slavery as part of economic ventures and this Government, through its various arms, will fight vigorously such attempts and will join forces with the like-minded persons, organisations and governments to stop vulnerable persons from falling into the hands of such perpetrators”.
Coordinator of the Counter-Trafficking Department at the Ministry, Tanisha Williams said “TIP in Guyana remains a tall order and noted that the 2016 report highlights some of the challenges while making recommendations.
The report commended the new government for its efforts to prevent trafficking.
“Guyana’s newly elected government reformed the anti-trafficking inter-ministerial taskforce in January 2016; before the reformation, however, the taskforce was inactive for eight months and did not make efforts to implement the 2014-2015 national action plan.”
The government was also criticized for not finalizing an action plan to combat trafficking. It noted that the government operated a trafficking hotline, but did not report how many calls it received. Additionally, according to the report, the government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts or forced labour.
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