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Social Protection Ministry defends actions taken with nine year old TIP victim
In the unfortunate case of a nine-year-old Trafficking in Person (TIP) victim, the Ministry of Social Protection has come out to defend its actions in providing care and support for the young girl. 
The Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) had accused the Ministry of holding the child against her will. However, in a response circulated to the press yesterday, the ministry indicated that it has been continuing to provide optimum care and support for the child’s rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
In the statement, the Ministry said that a thorough situational analysis was conducted by the Ministry and the findings explicitly suggest that the child requires further evaluation to ascertain the emotional, social, mental and physical state of readiness for reintegration into society.
Moreover, the ministry said that it is cognizant of the physiological needs of all TIP victims and as such does not pursue a ‘one-glove-fit-all’ strategy, since all cases are unique and have their own peculiarities.
It was assured by the state agency that the security and safety of the child victim is of paramount importance, hence the need for protective care. Further, the ministry said that it holds the view that its current priority is to ensure the child is safe and the welfare is adequately addressed and until such assurance can be made, the child will remain in the protective care of the ministry.
Despite the accusations levelled against the ministry by the GWMO, it described the concerns expressed in a Kaieteur News article as being legitimate and commendable.
This newspaper published an article captioned “Trafficking victim, 9, being held against will by Ministry” on December 28, 2016. However in September this publication broke the story of the young child after being contacted by the Region One representative of the GWMO, Stephanie Miguel.
At that time, Miguel reported that Ms. Williams of the Trafficking Department of the ministry had requested to meet with the child to investigate the matter. According to Miguel, the child lived in Port Kaituma backdam with her parents and two brothers.
Miguel said that a male miner was allowed to have his way with the girl since he would sponsor the family with food supplies regularly. According to her, when the issue was finally exposed, the girl along with her brothers, aged 11 and eight, were taken to the Port Kaituma Police Station.
In a letter by GWMO’s President Urica Primus to Coordinator (ag) of the Counter Trafficking Unit of the Ministry, Tanisha Williams-Corbin, dated January 23, 2017, Primus reminded the coordinator after the child was brought to Georgetown on September 28, 2016 it was difficult to return the child to Region One on October 2, 2016 in the company of her foster mother.
“It was difficult for her to accept being away from school, which she had started for the first time in her life only two weeks prior to the request for her to be interviewed; as well as being away from her brothers.”
During that visit, a re-examination was done and according to Primus, the results greatly contradicted the Guyana Police Force’s statement as well as the falsified doctor’s report which stated that the girl was not sexually active.
Primus said that she was pleased that the evidence validated the child’s statements. What surprised the GWMO was information received from Williams-Corbin, saying that the 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.
According to the letter, 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 apparently promised the child that she would have been returning to her foster mother the following day.
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.”
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