A number of Caribbean countries which are favoured tourist destinations are now the centre of a growing sex tourism industry, an Organisation of American States security expert said yesterday, and he also warned about concerns that the Free Movement of Skilled Nationals in Caricom could result in increased human trafficking.
According to the OAS Coordinator of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Unit in the Department of Public Security, Fernando Garcia-Robles, a 2005 study done by the OAS and the International Organisation for Migration revealed that trans-border human trafficking exists in many Caribbean member states and many other countries interconnected with the region are also affected as source, transit or destination countries.
Garcia-Robles, who was at the time addressing a two- day workshop on human trafficking at the Regency Hotel yesterday, said that although mainly a source region, the Caribbean is also becoming a transit point for trafficked women and men en route to Europe, Asia and/or more economically developed countries in the Western Hemisphere.
“Studies in the region have revealed that every year men but particularly women and girls are recruited, transported, marketed and purchased by individual buyers, traffickers and members of the transnational organized crime syndicates, who operate within Caribbean countries with the main purpose of sexually exploiting them,” Garcia-Robles said.
He noted that although quantitative information is not always available from different regions, the Caribbean reflects several trends that might increase its vulnerability to human trafficking. He further pointed out that the Caribbean is a region of extensive migration, with a rate of movement in relation to population that may be one of the highest in the world.
“Three migration flows occur in the Caribbean; internal migration, intra-regional and outward migration. The most influential factors affecting these migration flows are socioeconomic inequalities, tourism, and human trafficking,” he said.
‘Strengthening Capacity of Law Enforcement officials, judges, and prosecutors in the Caribbean to identify and combat trafficking in persons, especially women and children,’ is the theme under which the workshop is being held. The participants are drawn from the police, forestry and mining and also include a number of other key stakeholders.
The two-day forum could be considered apt, since according to Garcia-Robles trafficking in persons is the fastest growing transnational criminal activity in the world, and the Caribbean region is not an exception. He said while the concept of human trafficking might still be new to some societies, the international community believes this criminal activity is present, through various forms of exploitation, in all regions of the world.
Enslaves
“This crime that enslaves millions of persons in the world every year targets for the purpose of labour and commercial sexual exploitation the most vulnerable populations,” he said.
It is estimated, he noted, that at least one million and quite possibly up to four million men, women, adolescents, boys and girls are victims of trafficking at the global level. To combat this rising crime, the OAS security expert said that it is necessary to go beyond the countries of origin, transit and destination, and it is also vital to address more than just the recruiters, transporters, exploiters, clients and beneficiaries. He said essentially it is a job which requires coordination at the inter-institutional and multi-dimensional levels, taking into account the prevention, prosecution of criminals, and the protection of victims.
To this end, he said justice operators, among others, law enforcement officials, immigration officers, judges and prosecutors play a decisive role and their coordinated efforts are paramount in making sure that when a potential victim of human trafficking is identified, the victim receives proper attention and the criminal investigation procedures are conducted in a professional and coordinated manner.
“To this end, basic interviewing guidelines are essential. In other words appropriate treatment and adequate response will determine the extent to which a victim may successfully begin recovery from the ordeal of the trafficking experience, but also will assist in any investigative procedures or other aspects of the judicial process, including acting as witness,” Garcia-Robles said.
The security expert also mentioned the cunning ways traffickers use to attract their prospective victims by convincing them to migrate voluntarily to economically developed countries with false promises and offerings of well-paid jobs such as waitresses, models, dancers, domestic workers, and nannies, among others. They advertise their fake work offers in local newspapers and marriage agencies.
In some cases they directly contact the victims and/or their families to offer the jobs abroad or in urban centres in the victims’ own countries. Frequently, the victims have to pay large sums of money for services issued by the traffickers and even their own maintenance once they arrive at the destination, making the exploitation never ending.
Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee pointed out that trafficking in persons is a very lucrative industry as according to estimates by researchers it is now the fastest growing criminal industry in the world and globally it is tied with the illegal arms trade as the second largest illegal industry behind the drugs trade.
It is estimated that its annual income globally is between US$5B and US$9B.
Locally, the minister said, the administration has adopted a number of measures to combat trafficking in persons, including the development of an adequate legal framework to address the issue, the passage of the 2005 Trafficking In Persons Act, the creation of the ministerial task force which meets on a monthly basis to plan and monitor national responses, and the national action plan to combat trafficking in persons was revived, among other initiatives.
Police officers, prosecutors and immigration personnel have also been trained to identify trafficking victims and to prosecute while cross-border cooperation with Brazil and Suriname was implemented.
And Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Human Services & Social Security, Trevor Thomas said that while there has not been a large number of victims, as a ministry one victim is too many and as such any initiative to respond to trafficking in persons is one that is welcomed.
“We believe that if our response is vigorous and robust then we need to have an integrated and coordinated approach to human trafficking,” Thomas declared, adding that the workshop would help in strengthening the national response.
The participants yesterday were expected to look at the distinction between trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, two different but interrelated criminal activities. They were also expected to briefly touch on the demand and gender sides and to look at the human rights dimension of trafficking and move to see the criminal investigation and crime scene. Today the emphasis will be on the victim’s identification and ethical interviewing and protection. Close attention will also be paid to child trafficking as a particularly vulnerable group in modern times.
