Trafficking victim, 9, being held against will by Ministry

Dec 28, 2016 News

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– Women Miners’ body claims

The Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) clashed with Ministry of Social Protection, over the weekend, accusing the latter of forcefully detaining a nine-year-old human trafficking victim against her will.
The story of the victim had shocked the nation in September after it became known that the child was only nine and that it was her mother who allegedly facilitated the trafficking.
According to the association in a strongly worded statement, on September 23rd 2016, Guyana first learnt of the girl.
“The young victim was allegedly raped by her trafficker just days before her mother forced her to live with him, take care of all of his needs, sexual and physical, all the while being forbidden to speak to others, including her own brothers. She suffered in silence for two years, as her mother collected food supplies and on one incident, a generator, in exchange for her daughter’s childhood.”
The organization said that on September 26th, 2016, a Kaieteur News article carried an article ‘TIP officials to interview “trafficked” nine year old girl’. This had followed a “swift press release” from the Guyana Police Force which stated that the medical examination conducted in Port Kaituma proved that the victim was not sexually active.
The GWMO said it arranged for the young victim to travel to Georgetown on September 28th, 2016, and was scheduled to return to Region One on October 2nd, 2016, in the company of her foster mother.
“It was difficult for her to accept being away from school, which she had started only two weeks prior to the request for her to be interviewed; as well as, being away from her brothers. Her first day in Georgetown was shocking, both negatively and positively. She was interviewed and re-examined.”

FALSIFIED DOCTOR’S REPORT
GWMO said that the re-examination greatly contradicted the Guyana Police Force’s initial statement, as well as the falsified doctor’s report.
“We were pleased that the evidence validated her statements. What negatively surprised us was when the GWMO’s President, Ms. Urica Primus, was contacted by the Coordinator of the Counter Trafficking Unit, Mrs. Tanisha Williams-Corbin, informing her the alleged victim would not be given to her foster mother, instead she would be placed in protective care for one night and return on September 29th, 2016, to complete her statement and return home on October 2nd, 2016; this arrangement allowed the Ministry interviews and the victim would return to her community to participate in her school sports where she was scheduled to run and participate in high jump.”
According to the statement, the alleged victim was adamant that she did not want to be at the Protective Care Facility and refused to move from the door. An official from the Ministry of Social Protection’s Counter Trafficking Unit promised her that she would have been returning to her foster mother the following day. Still crying and inconsolable, she had no choice but to spend the night; as her rights as a victim were not respected.”
According to the organization, the United Nations Human Rights and Human Trafficking Fact Sheet No. 36 clearly outlines the rights-based approach to providing services and support for victims of Human Trafficking.
“The GWMO would like to believe that with all of the training opportunities the Counter Trafficking Unit has been afforded, one outlined the rights of victims to accept or deny protective care. Especially, in a situation when the trafficker is deceased and there are no threats on your life, the victim simply wished to attend school, which she started for the first time, and participate in school sports.”
The organization made it clear that from September 28th 2016, the victim’s life has been reduced to misery and deception – not only was she separated from her foster mother, but on September 29th, 2016, no one from the Ministry of Social Protection returned to take her complete interview, and as such she was not reunited with her foster mother.
“Again, she sat in dismay gazing longingly, wishing for the figure of her foster mother to appear, but this never happened. Her return date of October 2nd 2016 came and only her foster mother returned to Region One. The Counter Trafficking in Persons Coordinator informed the GWMO on October 7th, 2016 that her Ministry along with the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs were searching for a Carib translator for the alleged victim. The GWMO expressed shock in the process being held back for the Carib translator search, since the victim is fully capable of speaking English.”

THREE MONTHS
Even after the second statement was completed, the Ministry of Social Protection still did not release the young victim to return to the care of her foster parent.
“To date, three months after the victim first journeyed to the city for what she was promised would be a short stay, Mrs. Corbin is still maintaining that the victim may be needed for another statement. The GWMO hereby reminds the Ministry of Social Protection that the United Nations Human Right and Human Trafficking Documents highlight ‘no detention of trafficked persons’.” GWMO stressed that routine detention is always illegal.
“The GWMO is not against victims being placed in protective care, as the organization along with the Sisters of Mercy has pioneered the creation of the country’s first Safe Home for Victims of Trafficking in Persons; but the victim must have the right to choose to be in protective care.”
The GWMO made it clear that it is well aware that this “victim” is not the only one who has been forced into care, with no contact with their family.
“Some have even attempted suicide in frustration of being denied continuous requests to return to their communities, both from local victims and international victims. Some of the classified victims have no grounds, legal or otherwise, to be classified as victims. To this we ask, are we a nation that is serious about Trafficking in Persons or a nation that is serious about statistics and false impressions?”

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