The inter-ministerial taskforce against human trafficking remained inactive up to eight months after the new government was voted into office last year, according to the US State Department’s 2016 Trafficking in Persons Report, which also said that while the government drafted an action plan to combat trafficking, it did not finalise it.
The report also knocked the David Granger-led government for not allocating additional personnel to the “severely understaffed” anti-trafficking unit and its failure to increase protection and services for victims outside the capital or participating in investigations against their traffickers. It said the state nevertheless continued to prosecute and punish suspected trafficking victims for crimes committed as a result of being subjected to trafficking.
According to the report, which was released last week, the government reformed the task force in January this year and for the first time it included the leading anti-trafficking non-governmental organisation (NGO).
While the report did not identify the NGO, the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) remains the only non-profit organisation involved in the fight against trafficking and it now has a member on the task force.
The report further stated that the government conducted a variety of awareness-raising activities, including campaigns to sensitise civilians and law enforcement in the mining and logging sectors outside the capital.
“The government operated a trafficking hotline but did not report how many calls it received. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts or forced labor,” the report said, while adding that the number of labour trafficking investigations did not increase and no anti-trafficking training was provided for the country’s diplomatic personnel.
The new report removed Guyana from the Tier 2 Watch List for TIP. The country was placed on Tier 2, indicating that although the country still does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, it is making significant efforts to do so. Guyana was placed on the Tier Two Watch List three years ago and has since mounted numerous efforts to improve its ranking.
Once again, the report said that Guyana is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour. “Women and children from Guyana, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Suriname, and Venezuela are subjected to sex trafficking in mining communities in the interior and urban areas. Victims are subjected to forced labor in the mining, agriculture, and forestry sectors, as well as in domestic service and shops,” it noted.
It added that the Government of Guyana does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but it convicted one trafficker, imposed a three-year prison sentence, and required her to pay the victim restitution—the first time restitution has been ordered for a trafficking offender in Guyana.
Further, the government also provided $600,000 to the GWMO-run shelter that is dedicated to trafficking victims. The shelter is the first of its kind in Guyana. The government also further increased collaboration with anti-trafficking NGOs by instituting procedures to refer victims to the shelter and including the GWMO on its inter-ministerial anti- trafficking task force.
Recommendations
The report recommended that the inter-ministerial taskforce should be regularly convened and for the government to finalise and implement the 2016-2017 national action plan. It said it should also offer increased protection and assistance for victims near mining communities outside the capital; and continue to raise awareness of trafficking among civil society.
The report also recommended that Guyana continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute sex and labour trafficking cases and hold convicted traffickers accountable—including complicit officials—by imposing sentences that are commensurate with the severity of the crime. It was also recommended that bail be denied and restitution ordered where appropriate.
Also, it recommended that the government finalise and issue written procedures to guide and encourage front-line officials—including police, health, immigration, labour, mining, and forestry personnel—to identify and protect victims of forced labour and sex trafficking. Training should be provided for law enforcement, judiciary officials, and front-line responders—especially those working outside the capital—on victim identification, referral to services, and victim-centred investigations, it added.
Allocation of additional staff to the inter-ministerial anti-trafficking unit was also recommended as was the provision of sufficient funding and resources for it to investigate trafficking in the mining sector and conduct awareness campaigns; provide additional protection for victims to enable them to appear in court and testify against traffickers in a way that does not further endanger them. There should also be an increase in funding for NGOs that identify and assist victims, while efforts to ensure victims are not summarily deported without the opportunity to assist in a trial against their traffickers and that they are not penalised for crimes committed as a result of being subjected to trafficking should be taken, it added.
The report also recommended that a male shelter should be opened for victims of TIP, in addition to child-sensitive investigation measures and court procedures that protect the privacy of children and minimise their re-traumatization should be developed.
