The Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) on Saturday rescued four teenage girls who are suspected to have been trafficked into the Mahdia Backdam, including a 14-year-old who may have been a sex worker.
The girls, who are between the ages of 14 and 17, have since been handed over to the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security while police have launched investigations.
President of the GWMO Simona Broomes yesterday told Stabroek News that while all of the girls have denied that they were being trafficked, based on their ages alone it is against the anti-trafficking laws for them to be working in the backdam.
Broomes and her team travelled to regions Eight and Ten late last week as part of their awareness and education outreach and it was during their visits that the presence of the teenagers was brought to their attention.
She said at one point they were told that two underage girls were working as prostitutes in two shops and they immediately investigated and found the girls, aged 15 and 16, although they initially lied about their ages.
According to Broomes, only one of the shop owners was present at the time and she indicated that the 15 year-old was only spending the day. However, Broomes said she indicated that they received information that the child would spend long periods at the location and the shop owner later confirmed this. The two girls were subsequently taken to the Mahdia Police Station.
After learning that the 15-year-old did not have a mother and that she lived with a woman in the area, the police took the decision to return her to the woman. There was no accommodation for the 16-year-old and members of the GWMO asked that she not be placed in the lock-ups but offered to keep her and bring her to the city, where she would be handed over to the relevant authorities. The child’s mother, when contacted, later indicated that she knew her daughter was in the area to work.
While traversing the area during the night, Broomes said, they observed a female who appeared very young working in a bar. She said the following day they returned to the shop and learned that the child was just 14, which was known to the shop owner.
The child, who hails from Region Nine, said that a male shop owner, who she knows, paid for her and another friend to travel to the area and she was made to work under very cruel circumstances. The child, who was in the area since May, related an instance when she was talking to a male friend and the shop owner subsequently took her into a room and assaulted her.
The child said she reported the matter to the police but their only action was to take her back to the shop owner to collect her belongings. The man refused to hand them over, saying that the child owed him money.
Broomes and her members confronted the man and he admitted that he had the child’s bag.
After it was explained to him that what he was doing was against the law the man handed over the bag. She said while the child is denying that she was working as a prostitute, many persons in the area said she was a sex worker.
Meanwhile, while speaking to sex workers in the area, GWMO members found out that two of them were 17 years old. One was even locked away in a room. Sensing something was amiss, Broomes and her team waited around and saw when the young woman exited the room after it was thought that they had left.
Broomes yesterday once again decried the fact that trafficking in persons continues to be a serious problem in the country and she called for the many illegal shops in the mining districts to be removed. She said the GWMO has approached Minister of Natural Resources and the Environ-ment Robert Persaud and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to deal with the shops that are popping up “wild west all over the place.”
Broomes said she was heartened by the fact that a representative from Red Thread was also on the outreach as it shows that they are collaborating with other non-governmental organisations.
