Dear Editor,
On February 16, 2021, a press statement from the PR department of the Guyana Police Force was released which gave the names, ages and other identifying particulars of a suspected survivor/victim of trafficking in persons (TIP) and a potential witness. This disclosure of information was in flagrant breach of the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act. That it was the Guyana Police Force who released this information to media houses, including all the mainstream press in Guyana, is of major concern. Those tasked with enforcing of the law must not themselves be in breach of it, but in this case they were.
Fortunately, the Guyana Press Association and mainstream media houses recognized that to publish the information would be a violation of journalistic ethics and did not do so. One online news service, The Daily News Guyana.com, carried the press release in full, but removed the offending information on being contacted by the GPA. The Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act requires that hearings for TIP offences be held in camera and that the identity of the victim must not be published. Any person who exposes the identity of the victim and the victim’s family commits a summary offence and is liable to a fine of $100,000.
The draft standard operating protocols (SOP) for the investigation, interviewing of victims/survivors of and witnesses to, and prosecution of TIP states that once a report or allegation is made of a suspected TIP situation, the Guyana Police Force TIP Unit – the specialized agency set up to handle and advise on all TIP cases – must be immediately notified. The draft SOP also state that “Trafficking in persons cases shall not be recorded on police information databases, it is paramount at this stage of pre-response planning that information be guarded and localized within the GPF-TIP Unit to reduce the possibility of leaks”.
We would remind the Guyana Police Force and all media outlets that best practices must always be followed for the protection of victim/survivors of TIP to avoid their re-victimization and stigmatization and to ensure their safety and welfare above all else. Additionally the Sexual Offences Act prohibits the identification of any survivor/victims of a sexual offence and states it is an offence to print, publicize, broadcast or transmit by TV, radio, internet or social media any information that could identify the complainant or any other witness in a sexual offence case. Any person who reveals any information so as to enable the identification of the complainant or any witness can be fined $2 million.
We call on the government, the DPP and the Commissioner of Police to swiftly move to discipline those responsible for this violation of human rights. We also call on the government to move swiftly to operationalize the draft SOP for the investigation and prosecution of TIP. We wish to make it very clear that confidentiality of information shared during interviews of survivors of TIP must be rigorously maintained and that officers breaching confidentiality should be penalized and relocated. We will continue to be vigilant in the defense of all victims of gender-based violence, including TIP and all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation.
Yours faithfully,
Danuta Radzik, Linda Hustler, Josephine Whitehead, Colin Marks, Gaitrie
Shivsankar, Shondelle Branch
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