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May 19, 2010 News
– local Task Force rebuts US State Department report
A report prepared by the Ministerial Task Force for Combating Trafficking in Persons has found that the issue is not a major problem in Guyana.
This is despite Guyana being placed on the Tier Two watch list by the United States State Department in its 2009 report.
The report of the Local Task Force was presented to members of the media yesterday during a press conference hosted by the Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee.
The Task Force, which was established by Cabinet to address issues relating to Trafficking in Persons (TIP), has been meeting every month and felt it obligatory to publish its own report, which according to Rohee, was not necessarily a response to the US State Department report.
“Since we have the institutional memory and we have the knowledge of the extent to which trafficking in persons exists in our national jurisdiction, we felt obliged to produce our own report so that we have our own views out there rather than having our views subsumed in the State Department report,” Minister Rohee told the media yesterday.
The local TIP Task Force report deals with five main areas, namely institutional and legislative framework to deal with the issue; prevention measures; protection and victim assistance; prosecution of offenders and an assessment of the US State Department report on Guyana.
The document also addresses a number of areas such as the amount of victims, the level of awareness among citizens, especially those in the hinterland and border areas, training of law enforcement officers and the level of cooperation that exists between the agencies that deal with the issue.
According to the report, there were 10 matters that were brought to the attention of the local task force for last year.
Eight of the matters were reported to the police, and in two instances, the alleged victims requested no police action.
The report stated that seven of the eight reported matters were fully investigated by the police and in six instances there was no evidence to support that the victims were trafficked.
However, in one of the cases, a father and son were charged with harbouring for the purpose of prostitution and managing a bawdy house.
The report added that the Guyana Police Force is currently investigating a report of two Amerindian females being trafficked to a Chinese restaurant in Linden.
For 2009, the report stated, there was one instance where charges for Trafficking in Persons were instituted.
And based on the recommendation from the Ministry of Human Services, the Task Force had requested that the police review one of the cases, which involved a Venezuelan girl who came to Guyana illegally.
Minister Rohee pointed out, however, that Guyana has managed to record its first conviction in relation to human trafficking.
“On April 29, one Miss Weslyn Benn was given a three-year prison term for trafficking in persons. Miss Benn (who) I think hails from Bartica, was convicted of trafficking two girls aged twelve and sixteen (years old) on October 23 (2009) at One Mile Potaro Road, Bartica,” Rohee said.
“We have been making out that from time to time that we do not recognize Trafficking in Persons as a major issue in our society,” the Minister added.
The local Task Force in its 2009 report categorically rejected the US State Department’s labeling of Guyana as a Tier Two watch list country.
The Task Force remains adamant that the US State Department’s reports on Trafficking in Persons continually mischaracterises Guyana as a TIP haven.
In 2004 Guyana came under the radar of the United States with respect to TIP. This was shortly after the US had passed its own legislation in 2000.
According to the local Task Force, at that time, the US had said that Guyana has significant numbers of TIP victims.This led to the passing of the combating of Trafficking in Persons Act in December 2004, and a whole menu of measures was taken.
“The reports over the years have been clear that as a country, Guyana has made significant strides in increasing efforts at preventing and addressing trafficking and protecting victims and vulnerable persons who are potential victims.
“From almost the beginning, Guyana objected to being a country that should attract the attention of the US or the expenditure of the US taxpayers’ dollars, asserting that Guyana did not have significant numbers of trafficking victims,” the local Task Force report stated.
The report went on to add that more and more efforts are being made based on commitments to eliminate trafficking and there is no evidence expressed or otherwise that could lead one to believe that Guyana has a very significant number of TIP victims or a significantly increasing victim population.
“There is no justification for Guyana’s placement on the Tier Two watch list,” the report stated.
Minister Rohee has indicated that Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand is making efforts to have Guyana’s position remedied by the US State Department.
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