Opposition Leader David Granger on Wednesday urged the government to lift the veil on human trafficking and it is left now to be seen if President Donald Ramotar will move to set up a commission of inquiry following the passage of a motion in Parliament calling for one.
The motion calling on Ramotar to appoint a commission of inquiry to investigate the incidence of trafficking in persons was approved by the opposition but government rejected it saying it was not applicable.
The motion was brought by Granger and stated that “there have been credible reports that underdetermined numbers of persons, have been trafficked, kept in involuntary servitude and required to perform forced labour, particularly in the hinterland regions of Guyana, but also elsewhere.”
A total of ten speakers from both sides of the House made presentations during the debate.
According to Granger, the motion is one about humanity, the type of society we want to live in, about the children and the future of the country.
He said he is proposing the framework for an analysis of the crime of trafficking in persons that is based on several levels where he described trafficking in person as slavery with the victims normally being young females. “It is also a crime against our children, it is a crime against the most important section of society that is our women…and it is a crime which will shake the structure of our families if left unchecked,” he said.
Further, Granger said that human trafficking is one of international jurisdiction and one can be prosecuted for it in any part of the world.
However, he said the crime is beset by a denial syndrome where persons would say there is no problem, recalling that the government in the past had rejected the report on Guyana on the issue from the US and “like a delinquent school boy they wrote their own report so where they got an F, they gave themselves an A but it doesn’t mean that there is no trafficking.”
There is also a syndrome of dodging the issue by pretending that the persons who are victims of trafficking voluntarily entered into a state of persecution. “Fourteen and 15-year-old girls, people who are abused, people who are dumb and deaf who have been trafficked into the hinterland we are told by some excusers that these are self-inflicted wounds, that is lifestyle choice, they wanted to be prostitutes…,” Granger said.
The opposition leader also pointed out that it is the state’s responsibility to protect the victims especially those who are underage. He said the areas where girls are trafficked are known and he hopes the inquiry they would bring an end to the brutal issue.
He commended the Guyana Women’s Miners Organisation (GWMO) for its work in the area noting that its members have done what the Ministries of Home Affairs, Human Services and Social Security and Amerindian Affairs didn’t do.
According to Granger, the country is becoming a “notorious state in the western hemisphere for trafficking in persons” adding that the country cannot deny the many reports stating the magnitude of the problem that has been coming out over the last few years.
“We are participating in a crime which is giving this country a bad name,” he said, adding that it is time for the country to lift the veil on a vicious crime and for the cries of the victims to be listened to.
“It is time for us to leave behind the silly denials and dodges and accept that we have a problem [as] unless we accept we have a problem we are not going to solve the crime.”
Granger said that in accordance with the Commission of Inquiry Act, Chapter 19:03 the President may instruct a commission to inquire into any matter, which in the opinion of the President is for the public welfare.
He called on President Ramotar to appoint a commission which will inquire into allegations and determine the extent of trafficking in persons. The commission should also make recommendations for the suppression and abolition of trafficking in persons.
His stance was supported and reiterated by member Volda Lawrence who explained that an inquiry would seek to give voice to persons trafficked; especially young women from Guyana’s interiors. “Our women and girls are lured and forced into situations with or without consent and through force, fraud, deception, or abuse,” she said.
Alliance For Change member of parliament Cathy Hughes also supported and called for a COI into TIP. “Trafficking in Persons has a clear social dimension, we cannot fail to recognise that poverty makes many vulnerable and with joblessness, trafficking in persons becomes an avenue for the recruitment especially of the young,” she said.
Hughes noted that her presentation and appeal was not to lay blame but to hope for a consensus on the issue. “We all must support this motion, and a commission of inquiry, if we are to be true to our word of wanting to protect these vulnerable groups. A commission of inquiry will put all our heads together; the researchers the social workers, the families, the doctors…and will carefully examine the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of the recent increase,” she added.
However government, though attorney general Anil Nandlall, Minster of Human Services Jennifer Webster, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee and other ministers who presented during the debate, stated that with measures already in place to deal with the issue, the last thing needed was another commission of inquiry. Nandall posited that it would be a waste of needed resources to have a COI on this issue when it is already being tackled head on and tried and tested measures have been implemented to rid the country of this social ill.
Programmes outlined to curb the issue were highlighted by Webster. “This government has over the past years undertaken a number of initiatives in a sustained way in the fight to combat trafficking in persons,” she said.
According to Webster, her government holds strongly to the view that TIP has to be addressed with a view to reducing persons’ vulnerabilities, either due to poverty or other factors. As such programmes such as the Hinterland Scholarship Programme, the universal school uniform programme and economic assistance are geared to reduce poverty and create equality and opportunities for persons in Amerindian communities. “These programmes, while not exclusively focused on trafficking in persons, are deemed useful in embracing the prevention, restoration and prosecutorial capabilities of Guyana to address TIP,” she said.
A National Action Plan, comprising 16 objectives, to prevent TIP was also explained to the national assembly. She also made reference to the Ministerial Task Force and the work it does through its counter-TIP programmes and their successes. Referring to sections of the media she pointed to a recent case where persons have been charged with TIP and only Tuesday one such person was before the courts.
When Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee took to the floor he disclosed that there were many operations carried out which not only edified persons on identifying TIP and getting help but that the task force which he heads does these works constantly.
He said that there are many programmes and operations that are ongoing but that he did not feel that publicity was needed to highlight the works as the results in statistics illustrated this. Reports are written and sent to the media, but he opined that only certain excerpts are taken and highlighted.
An operation is soon set to begin and will target areas found most vulnerable to TIP such as Mahdia, Lethem, Itabali, Imbamadai and 14 Miles among others.
While the motion was carried government rejected it.
