US Trafficking in Persons report…Guyana has met minimum standards for elimination

Jun 29, 2018 News

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– More protection needed outside capital city

While Guyana has met the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in person (TIP), it needs to do more to provide protection and shelter outside of its capital city for children and men. Last year, the number of trafficking investigations and new prosecutions decreased, while the number of successful convictions remained low.
These were the findings of the latest Trafficking in Persons Report as released by the US Department of State yesterday. It covers the period of 2017.
A poor ratings or failure to address weaknesses could result in US sanctions, with Guyana being placed on a watch list a few years ago; it was later removed, after steps were taken to correct the weaknesses.
The annual Trafficking in Persons report looked at 187 countries and territories.
“The Government of Guyana fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government continued to demonstrate serious and sustained efforts during the reporting period; therefore, Guyana remained on Tier 1,” the report said.

A Tier 1 ranking is for countries that meet minimum U.S. standards; Tier 2 for those making significant efforts to do so, while the Tier 2 Watch List is for those meriting special scrutiny.
Tier 3 is for countries that fail to fully comply with the minimum U.S. standards and are not making significant efforts to do so. A Tier 3 ranking can trigger American sanctions limiting access to U.S. and international foreign assistance.
STRONG SENTENCES
In its recommendations, the report said that, “there should a fund for specialized victim services outside the capital and for child victims and adult male victims.
Authorities should also vigorously investigate and prosecute sex and labour trafficking cases and hold convicted traffickers, including complicit public officials, accountable by imposing strong sentences. There should also be a speedy introduction of written identification procedures to better guide law enforcement officials as well as more training.
Standard procedures should also be developed for protecting foreign victims, provide additional protection for victims to testify against traffickers in a way that minimizes re-traumatization; monitoring of the number of cases reported to the trafficking hotline or by labour inspectors to promote a rapid investigative and victim assistance response; and the provision of training for diplomatic personnel on trafficking.”
The report noted that the government maintained law enforcement efforts for TIP.
“The Combating Trafficking of Persons Act of 2005 criminalized sex and labour trafficking and prescribed sufficiently stringent penalties ranging from three years to life imprisonment. These penalties, with respect to sex trafficking, were commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. The law defined trafficking broadly to include the illegal sale of organs without the use of force, fraud, or coercion.”
The role of the Ministry of Social Protection (MoSP) as the lead agency responsible for coordinating trafficking efforts, overseeing the Anti-Trafficking Unit (ATU) and participating on the government’s inter-ministerial task force, was also noted.
The task force, which included representatives from several agencies and an anti-trafficking NGO, coordinated a number of successful police operations.
In 2017, the government reported four new trafficking investigations (two for sex trafficking and two for labour trafficking), 17 prosecutions (12 of which were initiated in previous reporting periods), and two convictions; compared to 19 investigations, 19 prosecutions, and two convictions in 2016.
“The court sentenced both convicted traffickers to three years imprisonment and required one trafficker to pay restitution to one victim. A case from the previous reporting period in which the government required the trafficker only to pay restitution, a penalty inconsistent with the law and one that the task force appealed, remained pending.”
However, the TIP report noted, the government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in trafficking offenses.
“Authorities confirmed the police officer who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2015 was terminated from his position in the police force; however, his appeal was still pending at the end of the reporting period. The government did not provide any support for trainings hosted by an international organization on combating complicity.”
The report noted that while the government increased efforts to identify and protect trafficking victims, the assistance to these remained insufficient, especially in areas outside the capital and for child and male victims.
“The task force and ATU drafted standard operating procedures (SOPs) for victim identification, referral, and assistance, but the SOPs were not formalized by the end of the reporting period as the government stated it planned to do so by the end of 2018. The government identified 131 victims in 2017 (65 for sex trafficking, 35 for labour trafficking, and 31 for both forms), compared with 98 in 2016.”
MORE REFERRALS TO SHELTERS
Last year also, the report said, the government referred 115 victims to shelter and psycho-social services, compared with 40 in 2016.
“The government trained 156 village leaders and 96 government officials from the interior regions on victim identification and assistance. The government also trained members of the business community and civil society on victim identification.”
It was disclosed that government provided $10M to an NGO-run shelter for the provision of enhanced psycho-social services to adult female trafficking victims, referred by the government. An additional $31.2M was given to another NGO that provided housing and counseling services to victims of gender-based violence, including an unknown number of trafficking victims.
“The government opened and operated the first shelter outside of the capital; the new shelter caters exclusively to adult female victims of trafficking. All identified victims received shelter, food, training, and psychological therapy.”
However, the report said that there were no adequate public or private shelters for male or child trafficking victims, despite the government’s commitment, made in early 2016, to open and partially fund a shelter for male victims.
“Child victims were placed into foster care, safe homes, or were reintegrated with their families while adult male victims were placed at non-specialized night shelters on an ad hoc basis.
Guyanese law protects victims’ identities from release to the media. Victims could leave shelters; however, they were strongly encouraged to stay unless with a chaperone or until trials concluded. NGOs and MoSP provided protection and counseling for all identified victims, while the government provided transportation for victims who declined shelter but were willing to attend court proceedings.”
The reported also noted that the government did not penalize victims for crimes committed as a result of being subjected to trafficking.
JOB FOR VICTIM
“The government reported multiple cases of delivering foreign victims to their respective embassies at the request of the foreign missions before the conclusion of prosecutions.
The government granted one victim temporary residence and legal employment in Guyana. The government, with the assistance of an international organization, repatriated 21 suspected trafficking victims. The government did not report whether it facilitated or funded the repatriation of Guyanese nationals victimized abroad; however, it offered shelter, medical care, and psycho-social assistance to victims upon their return.”
“Authorities reportedly conducted approximately 1,000 unannounced labour inspections in the capital and the interior, last year.
The government granted temporary amnesty to foreign labourers in order for them to regularize their immigration status in Guyana. Labour inspectors received trafficking-specific training, but did not report whether they identified any cases. The government did not provide anti-trafficking training for its diplomatic personnel, but with in-kind assistance from international organizations, the task force began drafting a training module.”
The TIP report said that Guyana is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour.
“Women and children from Guyana, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Suriname, Haiti, and Venezuela are subjected to sex trafficking in mining communities in the interior and urban areas. Victims are subjected to forced labour in the mining, agriculture, and forestry sectors, as well as in domestic service and shops. While both sex trafficking and forced labour occur in interior mining communities, limited government presence in the country’s interior renders the full extent of trafficking unknown. Children are particularly vulnerable to sex and labour trafficking. Guyanese nationals are subjected to sex and labour trafficking in Jamaica, Suriname, and other Caribbean countries.”
In a special section, the State Department said children should only be removed from their families as a “temporary, last resort.”

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