Region Seven Chairman Gordon Bradford believes a countrywide campaign is needed to raise awareness about human trafficking, since many of the victims found in mining areas are being brought from other parts of the country.
“We need to look at trafficking in persons in a holistic way; all of us have to say it is wrong and not seek to exploit each other. And we must call a spade a spade, “Bradford told Stabroek News on Sunday.
Recently, the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) rescued a number of trafficking victims from the mining areas in Region Seven. In almost all of the cases, the victims have said they were forced to be sex workers and their captors refused to pay them.
Bradford said he was grateful to the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, the US Embassy, the UNDP and other groups for hosting seminars and workshops on the issue in the region. It is only through education, he said, that the issue can be effectively dealt with.
At the same time, he noted that while emphasis is being placed on Region Seven, the crime is being committed in other parts of the country. He pointed out that there were cases where girls from his region were promised lucrative work in Region Four but were eventually held captive and forced to become sex workers. “There has to be a massive education push in the country that should not only target my region but across the country because there are victims from other regions,” Bradford said, after noting that “Even though people are reading and listening to the news, policemen and others are still getting caught up in this act aiding and abetting of this crime.”
He suggested that many of the victims are brought from other regions because they likely are unfamiliar with the terrain in Region Seven, unlike those females from the region who may know someone who can help them or could find their way out of captivity on their own.
Bradford commended the GWMO for its work, saying its members have been fearless and have put their lives at risk to rescue victims. He said because of the their knowledge of the areas and of what happens in the interior backdams, it would be easier for them to quickly realise when a female is being trafficked even if she may be smiling as she works in a shop.
He added that it is envisioned that the region will have a home available for victims with the necessary furnishing so that they would not have to remain at a police station when they are brought out of the interior.
He noted that while he understands that sometimes the station might be the best place for a victim that maybe pursued by her captors, a police station is for criminals and not victims. As a result, he is calling for half way houses to be established in various part of the country to accommodate not only victims of trafficking but also child labour and domestic violence victims.
Bradford also said it is imperative that the identity of victims not be exposed so as to give them a second chance without of the stigma of the crime being associated with them.
The latest US State Department Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report on Guyana downgraded the country to the Tier 2 Watch List for failing to demonstrate evidence of increasing efforts to hold trafficking offenders accountable with jail time over the previous reporting period. But the government has rejected the report, saying it was filled with falsehoods and has also said that it would no longer be cooperating by filling out questionnaires for the annual TIP survey conducted by the US Embassy.
