Three months after being rescued by the Guyana Women Miners Organization (GWMO), a nine-year-old trafficking in persons victim has been forced into protective care by the Ministry of Social Protection and has not been reunited with her family as was promised.
So far the child has given the Counter Trafficking Unit two statements and is now being told that she may have to give a third, the GWMO said yesterday while calling for the child to be released to her foster mother so that she can return to school.
In a press release, GWMO which has been leading the way in the human trafficking fight here in Guyana said that on September 23, 2016, it was made public that the child was allegedly trafficked by her mother. The child who was allegedly raped by her trafficker just days before her mother forced her to live with him, took care of all of his needs, “sexual and physical”. According to the release she was forbidden from speaking to others, including her brothers. “She suffered in silence for two years, as her mother collected food supplies and on one incident (occasion), a generator; in exchange for her daughter’s childhood.”
Subsequent to the publishing of the case, the Ministry of Social Protection requested an interview with the child, and the Guyana Police Force later stated that the medical examination conducted where the child lived, proved that the victim was not sexually active.
The release said that the GWMO arranged for the young girl to travel to Georgetown on September 28 and she was scheduled to return to her community on October 2, in the company of her foster mother. “It was difficult for her to accept being away from school, which she had started only two weeks prior to the request for her to be interviewed; as well as, being away from her brothers,” the release said.
It was pointed out that while in Georgetown she was interviewed and re-examined.
“The re-examination greatly contradicted the Guyana Police Force’s initial statement, as well as, the falsified doctor’s report,” the release said.
GWMO’s President Urica Primus was contacted by the Coordinator of the Counter Trafficking Unit Tanisha Williams-Corbin and informed that the child would not be given to her foster mother, instead she would be placed in protective care for one night, return on September 29, to complete her statement and be sent home on October 2, the statement said.
“The alleged victim was adamant that she did not want to be at the Protective Care Facility and refused to move from the door. An official from the Ministry of Social Protection’s Counter Trafficking Unit promised her that she would have been returning to her foster mother the following day.
Still crying and inconsolable, she had no choice but to spend the night; as her rights as a victim were not respected,” the release said. It was pointed out that the United Nations Human Rights and Human Trafficking Fact Sheet No 36 clearly outlines the rights-based approach to providing services and support for victims of human trafficking.
It was stated that the alleged trafficker is deceased and there are no present threats which puts the victim at risk and in need of protection.
According to the release, the interview was not completed and the child’s foster mother returned home without her.
The GWMO was then informed that the unit was seeking a translator for the alleged victim and was shocked at this, since the child was fully capable of speaking English, the release said.
In the release it was made clear that the GWMO is not against victims being placed in protective care, as the organization along with the Sisters of Mercy have pioneered for the creation of the country’s first Safe Home for Victims of Trafficking in Persons.
“…The victim must have the right to choose to be in protective care. The GWMO is well aware that this victim is not the only one who has been forced into care, with no contact with their family,” it stated.
The release pointed out that some of these victims have even attempted suicide in frustration of being denied continuous requests to return to their communities.
