Despite sustained efforts, trafficking cases rose locally last year -US State Dept. notes increase of Venezuela victims

Jun 21, 2019 News

The United States yesterday unveiled its latest Trafficking in Persons Report with Guyana lauded for its efforts. But, the US Department of State warned in its report that there is a rise in the number of identified cases in Guyana.

The US has lauded Guyana for its fight to reduce trafficking in person cases, but there are a rising number of incidents, despite the sustained efforts

Guyana remains on the Tier 1 status, meaning that it is one of the countries which fully meet minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
Countries can face reduced aid from donors like the US just by being identified as a country that does little to curb trafficking in persons. These are categorised in the worse-case scenarios of being under Tier 3.
According to the report yesterday, “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 government demonstrated serious and sustained efforts by increasing funding for victim assistance, identifying and assisting more victims for the third consecutive year, and opening and operating a trafficking shelter outside of the capital area.”
However, the report said, although the government met the minimum standards, it did not provide adequate protection and shelter outside the capital, or for child and male victims.
The number of trafficking investigations and new prosecutions decreased, and the number of successful convictions remained low.
The report noted that the government increased efforts to identify and protect victims.
“However, victim assistance remained a concern, especially in areas outside the capital and for Venezuelan, child, and male victims. The government identified 156 victims in 2018 (106 for sex trafficking and 50 for labour trafficking), compared with 131 identified victims in 2017. The government referred 93 victims to shelter and psychological services, compared with 115 in 2017. The government screened 11 potential child trafficking victims (10 sex trafficking and one labour trafficking) in 2018.”
VENEZUELA VICTIMS
According to the report, despite the noticeable increase of victims from Venezuela, the government lacked standard operating procedures for protecting foreign trafficking victims.
The government trained 43 village leaders, 20 mine inspectors, 32 immigration and police officers, and members of the business community and civil society in victim identification and referral.
The government also trained 21 interpreters from foreign diplomatic missions in the trafficking law, in order to prepare them to assist with non-English speaking trafficking victim interviews. The government provided about $60M to NGO-managed shelters providing housing for adult female victims of gender-based violence and trafficking, an increase from $41.2M in 2017.
The report said that the government also provided $3.5M for the first time in direct financial assistance to victims who chose not to stay in a shelter.
“Victims could receive shelter, food, training, and psychological therapy. There were no adequate public or private shelters for male or child victims, although the government has identified a facility for male victims. MoSP (Ministry of Social Proctection) provided intake counselling to child victims who it placed in shelters co-managed with NGOs. MoSP placed some children into foster care or reintegrated them with their families, while authorities placed adult male victims at non-specialised night shelters on an ad hoc basis.”
US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, during the release of the report yesterday, noted that some of these governments allow human traffickers to run rampant, while others are human traffickers themselves.
The US added Saudi Arabia and Cuba to its list of worst offenders on human trafficking, a designation that could make them “subject to certain restrictions on assistance.”
Russia, China, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, Syria, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar are among the 21 Tier 3 countries – where the problems are most rampant and which are doing little.
Pompeo made it clear that countries on Tier 3 face cuts to “non-humanitarian, non-trade related foreign assistance” and “for government official or employee participation in educational and cultural exchange programmes.”
The official is quoted as saying that US President Donald Trump restricted certain types of assistance to 22 countries that were ranked for Tier 3.
“That action, and the message that flows with it, is very clear: If you don’t stand up to trafficking, America will stand up to you.”
FUND VICTIM SERVICES
The report recommended that Guyana finalise, implement, and train law enforcement officials and front-line responders in written victim identification and referral procedures; fund specialised victim services, in particular for child, adult male, and Venezuelan victims; vigorously investigate and prosecute sex and labour trafficking cases, including those involving child victims; hold convicted traffickers, including complicit public officials, accountable by imposing strong sentences and hold police and law enforcement officials accountable for intimidation of victims in shelters including restricted movement, lack of access to family visits, or telephone services.
Guyana should also provide additional protection for victims to testify against traffickers in a way that minimises retraumatisation and investigate and report on the cases reported to the trafficking hotline and by labour inspectors.
The Ministry of Social Protection was the lead agency responsible for coordinating trafficking efforts, overseeing the Anti-Trafficking Unit (ATU), and participating on the government’s Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons.
In 2018, the government reported 30 new investigations, prosecuted 11 suspected traffickers (two initiated in prior periods), and convicted one trafficker for sex trafficking, compared with four investigations, 17 prosecutions (12 initiated in prior periods), and two convictions in 2017. The government reported investigating 11 cases of child trafficking (10 sex trafficking and one labour trafficking).
The court sentenced the convicted trafficker to three years’ imprisonment and required the trafficker to pay restitution to one victim.
“The appeal of a 2017 case in which the government required the trafficker to pay restitution without imprisonment, which was a penalty inconsistent with the law, was still pending at the end of this reporting period. The government did not report any new investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in trafficking offenses. The appeal of a police officer convicted of sex trafficking and released on bail in 2016 was still pending at the end of the reporting period.”
It was only this week that a female bar owner received a total of 15 years in jail for trafficking two Venezuela women. She was also fined $4M.