National TIP action plan unveiled

Jan 19, 2017 News

US Ambassador Perry Holloway

In the next two years there will be an increase in the crackdown on Trafficking in Persons (TIP). This notion was enhanced with the launch of the National Plan of Action for the Prevention and Response to TIP at the Guyana Police Force (GPF)’s Training College yesterday.

With the action plan, the government intends to spend $22.4M on the prevention, protection and prosecution of persons in 2017 and 2018.

Coordinator of the Counter-Trafficking Unit, Tanisha Williams-Corbin projected that there will be an increase in the number of arrests, charges and convictions of alleged TIP perpetrators by 300 percent.

She added that based on statistics; there is an increase in the number of reported cases reaching authorities, which means that the number of identified victims is on the increase.

With the launch of the TIP Action Plan, training will be provided for 20 police officers, 15 magistrates and attorneys, 10 immigration officers in TIP processing at ports, and 10 officers of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.

Additionally, 50 civil society representatives will be trained in identifying and reporting TIP, while five manufacturing companies would be asked to include educational messages and contact information for the TIP hotline on their product labels.

A Victims’ Rights handbook would also be published by the end of March this year, which can be used by all stakeholders.

Kaieteur News understands that surveillance and surprise visits will be conducted on businesses and individuals across Guyana, and from intelligence gathering, raids will be carried out on suspicious locations.

The National Plan of Action includes the monitoring of operations of bars, clubs, nightspots, cinemas, massage rooms, modelling/art agencies, interior checkpoints, mining camps, hotels and other businesses.

President David Granger told the gathering that government’s efforts to tackle TIP include the provision of a shelter and psych-social services to victims. He indicated that wardens would be deployed to go after TIP perpetrators and victims.

“We have this year started the establishment of a corps of wardens and these wardens would be going into mining and logging settlements and along border areas where trafficking has been prevalent.”

The president said that his administration would ensure that victims are protected and their lives improved while traffickers are brought to justice.

Meanwhile, United States Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Holloway said that the US would be bringing to Guyana a team of experts from the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) to train front-line government officials and others who are engaged in the daily fight against TIP.