Following reports of a number of severely malnourished indigenous migrants being discovered in Region One (Barima-Waini), the Office of the Prime Minister has stated that government is responding to their plight.
Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Blossom Inc was working in the Port Kaituma area when it saw several children in the village of Anabisi who looked severely malnourished.
Ayo Dalgety-Dean, the founder of Blossom Inc, told the Sunday Stabroek that after the NGO’s team discovered the children, they immediately contacted the relevant authorities. She added that the discovery was made between Tuesday and Thursday of last week.
“Once we realised the situation we just contacted all the agencies because based on our protocols we have to refer to the national systems and that is what we did and obviously today we saw that action happened,” she told this publication during a brief telephone interview.
“We work in the area of child protection systems in Guyana which includes the migrant population and we were doing both child protection inclusive migrant support work when we made the discovery. We work with children particularly those who were victims of sexual abuse and we have an extended service to the migrant population as well,” she added.
After reports and photos of the malnourished indigenous migrants surfaced, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) issued a statement saying that it is suspected that they may have entered Guyanese territory from a neighbouring village in Venezuela.
“Several government agencies with a presence in the region have already responded with emergency interventions, providing immediate medical and food relief. As an additional measure, a ministerial team of central responders departed the city today for Port Kaituma with additional supplies. The team will coordinate with other stakeholders that have been involved in collaborative work to ensure a holistic intervention,” the OPM statement said.
It added that the aircraft will remain on the ground to assist with medical evacuations which may become necessary as time progresses. OPM noted that the government remains mindful of its humanitarian obligations to migrants and has been actively engaged in sustained efforts to deliver food and medical relief across the regions where the migrant population is concentrated.
