Dear Editor,
I felt like a Rip Van Winkle when, as I was browsing some past magazines from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development in England, I came across an article titled: “Alarming Rise in Modern Slavery” in the October 2016 issue. The following are extracts from the article:
“ The number of slavery victims helped by the Salvation Army has increased by almost five-fold since 2012….Women were the most likely to be victims, at 62%… The release of the figures comes as the Government is backing a number of initiatives to eradicate examples of modern slavery…..most notable the Modern Slavery Act which requires employers to publish a slavery and human trafficking statement for each financial year……A government Review published a year after the introduction of the Act found that 289 modern slavery offences were prosecuted in 2015, which showed a 40% rise in victims.”
I have so far lived with the conviction that ‘slavery’, like ‘indenture-ship’ had long disappeared from around the world, let alone the UK which was once the prime-owner of slaves! To read about current day slavery therein is indeed mind-boggling! And almost unbelievable to read that it is” rising alarmingly”, despite a prohibitive Act.
It would be re-assuring to hear from our Ministry of Labour or any other concerned Department that there is no case of slavery in Guyana, let alone “rising cases”!
Yours faithfully,
Nowrang Persaud
