Government annually seeks to deny the prevalence of trafficking in persons (TIP) in Guyana, especially following the publication of US Department of State TIP reports, which reveal statistics that show this country in a poor light. But it does so on very shaky ground. A glance back at the denials would reveal a lot of bluster from government officials at joint press conferences during which they attempted to damn the reports. Unfortunately for Guyanese young women and children, recent events have vindicated the essence of those reports, placing those who would deny the existence and prevalence of this scourge on sinking sand and without a leg to stand on.
Human trafficking exists in Guyana. It is very prevalent. And it needs to be addressed.
In last year’s TIP report, the US State Department pronounced that Guyana is a source and destination country for persons subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour. “Guyanese nationals have been subjected to human trafficking in other countries in the Caribbean region. Cases of human trafficking reported in the media generally involved women and girls in forced prostitution,” the report, which ranked Guyana at Tier 2, commented. This report is based on events that occurred in 2012. However, two instant cases out of a number reported on already for the year reveal that to date nothing has changed or if it has, it’s for the worse.
On Sunday last, members of the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) travelled to Puruni in the mining district where they rescued four girls aged 14, 15, 17 and 18, who were being forced to engage in prostitution at a shop in the area. That the GMWO’s president who led the rescue did so at great personal risk is the stuff movies are made of. The danger she faced was recorded in this newspaper’s pages for posterity and hopefully will strengthen the case the police need to make against the ‘pimping’ shop owners.
On Monday last, the police in Barbados announced that they had cracked down on a business place on that island where five Guyanese females—one aged 17, two aged 18 and two aged 21 years old were “in debt bondage” “supplying sexual services” at a named brothel. Investigations, which were obviously done prior to the raid, revealed that the young women had been induced to enter Barbados and deceived about why they were being taken there. Once at the designated bar they were reportedly relieved of their travel documents and forced into prostitution. A man and a woman whom the police believed responsible for the women’s presence were immediately arrested and placed before the court the very next day on over a dozen charges.
Two very similar cases with two very different outcomes: In Guyana, the fight against human trafficking is being led by a non-governmental organisation, whose original mandate was to secure equal opportunities for women in the mining industry, but whose president and members found it impossible to turn a blind eye to the atrocities they unearthed in the interior. In Barbados, the police are carrying the fight and one has every reason to believe that the Barbados police will manage to successfully prosecute the charges laid.
In the 1980 album ‘96 Degrees in the Shade’, legendary and enduring Jamaica reggae band Third World has a song called “Human Marketplace”, which has perhaps not more than two dozen words. It asks the question: “Why is this buying and selling, still going on? In this here human marketplace…” The answer then and now is of course greed, compounded by the vulnerability of those being traded brought about by poverty and ignorance. The old adage that when something appears to be too good to be true, it usually is, certainly applies to the traps that are set by human traffickers for the poor and vulnerable seeking a better life.
The enslavement of one human being by another is a crime; slavery has been long abolished. It is beyond an abomination when it is sex slavery; when the motive is to profit from the misfortune of the enslaved and worse still when it involves children. That said, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud’s posture with regard to the Puruni incident on Monday that he was unsure whether the word “rescue” was an appropriate one to describe the removal of the girls from the situation and that it had to be investigated whether the 14-year-old was there with “her boyfriend” or “her parents” fell under the category of repulsive. Whether he has redeemed himself by his about-face on Tuesday will depend on the alacrity with which he and his officers pursue the matter.
One can but hope that Mr Persaud’s boss, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee who rushed to the defence of the local anti-trafficking unit after the issue was raised in Parliament by Opposition Leader David Granger, will also fast-track the resources necessary to the successful prosecution of this case.