Guyana faces US sanctions over human trafficking
-60 days to crack down on forced prostitution and take other steps
Stabroek News
June 16, 2004
Guyana has been named among ten countries which are not doing enough to stop the trafficking of thousands of people forced into servitude or the sex trade. It faces sanctions if the government does not take concrete actions to address this problem within the next 60 days.
US Ambassador to Guyana Roland Bullen in a statement on the report on Monday said that although reports indicate that the problem was not yet overwhelming, credible evidence suggests that it is becoming a significant problem throughout the country.
The sanctions may include the withholding of US aid not meant for humanitarian or trade purposes. US President George W Bush has the right to waive the sanctions if reasons are justified.
The information on Guyana and the 139 other countries was contained in a document titled `Trafficking in Persons Report' released on Monday by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The report said that much of the trafficking takes place in the interior of Guyana, where observers indicate that over 100 persons are engaged in forced prostitution in isolated settlements.
"Victims are also found in prostitution centers in Georgetown and New Amsterdam. Guyanese victims originate mainly from Amerindian communities, though some come from coastal urban centers. Most foreign victims are trafficked from Northern Brazil. Others may come from Venezuela. Guyana is also a transit country for victims trafficked into Suriname," the report stated.
Bullen said Guyana could avoid sanctions by working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), international organisations, neighbouring countries, and by taking concrete steps to address human trafficking.
The other nine countries facing sanctions are neighbouring Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba, Bangladesh, Burma, Equatorial Guinea, North Korea, Sierra Leone and Sudan.
Guyana, according to the report is a country of origin, transit, and destination for young women and children being trafficked primarily for sexual exploitation.
Stating that the United States was looking forward to working with the Guyana government to take decisive, measurable and concrete actions to combat the modern slave trade, Bullen said the US was committed to combating human trafficking worldwide.
He noted that in the last three years the US government invested US$100M in programmes to address prevention, protection and assistance to victims and prosecutions for 92 countries.
He said that with estimates of 18,000 to 20,000 people trafficked into the US every year, the US government was committed to taking significant action to combat human trafficking. The Department of Justice charged 111 traffickers in 2003, recording a three-fold increase over the previous year.
Trafficking in persons, Bullen said "differs from migrant smuggling in that human traffickers are typically forced, defrauded or coerced into sexual or labour exploitation. Traffickers capitalise on the victim's desire for a better life to force innocent people into slavery-like conditions. People are snared into trafficking by various means, including promises of employment, travel, money and more. Unlike migrant smuggling, trafficking victims can be moved across international borders or within a single country."
Guyana appeared as a Tier 3 country because it does not fully comply with the minimum requirements outlined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
Tier 3 also indicates that a country is yet to make significant efforts to do so. However, the State Department report said President Bharrat Jagdeo has committed the government to doing whatever is necessary to combat trafficking, by preventing victimisation, protecting trafficking victims and investigating and prosecuting traffickers.
The government has named Minister in the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, Bibi Shadick as the head of a task force appointed for this purpose. Shadick is due to address a seminar at the Hotel Tower on the subject today.
The report said that trafficking in Guyana is due to a lack of understanding of the problem, as well as the paucity of resources that can be dedicated to fighting the problem.
It added that Guyana is only beginning to address human trafficking, much of which occurs in regions where the government has limited authority. "The government should co-operate with the international community and its neighbours to develop a comprehensive anti-trafficking policy. National laws should be modernised to keep minors out of prostitution and to sanction their traffickers. Victims should be rescued. Resources should be dedicated to protecting victims and prevention."
The report noted that Guyana does not have a comprehensive law that addresses trafficking, nor does it generally arrest or prosecute traffickers. It noted that an existing statute that addresses some aspects of trafficking was used only once in 2003, resulting in a dismissed case. Officials are not trained to detect trafficking cases and as result they do not distinguish trafficking from migrant smuggling activity. Guyana does not fully control its borders.
The report said priority needs to be placed on rescuing children who are sexually exploited and prosecuting their traffickers.
It noted that the government has no policy of providing protection to trafficking victims and keeps no information on them. Any protection that the government might indirectly offer to victims would be in the form of modest assistance to the homeless.
Faced with limited resources, the report said the government does not carry out anti-trafficking education campaigns, and officials are just becoming aware of the need to take steps to prevent trafficking. The government's only efforts have been modest support for a local NGO assisting women in distress.
Trafficking in persons involves victims who are often forced, defrauded or coerced into labour or sexual exploitation. The US government estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 persons are trafficked in this manner across national borders each year. Of this number, 47% are women, 34% are girls under the age of 18, and 16% are boys under the age of 18, which means that more than 80% of victims are female and 50% are children.
The efforts of governments to fight trafficking are rated in tiers with 42 nations on a `Tier 2 watch list'. They include Belize, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Suriname. The Tier 2 list, the report said requires "special scrutiny" and could fall into the bottom or Tier 3 category.
Only 25 nations, mainly in Western Europe, are deemed to meet the US standards.