The government was looking at legislation on Trafficking In Persons (TIP) before the US State Department issued its report and had already identified a staffer at the Ministry of Legal Affairs to work on it, Human Services Minister Bibi Shadick said.
Legislation was high among the recommendations of a steering committee appointed by the ministry in April to look at the problem. The recommendation was also endorsed at a seminar on TIP at the Hotel Tower last week where Shadick spoke.
In her closing remarks Shadick said the government was currently looking at draft legislation obtained from the United States Embassy in Georgetown and state counsel had pulled some drafts from other countries off the internet to put together best practices.
She said the government was doing this, "not because we want to satisfy the US State Department that we are doing something about it. We are doing it because of concern for our people." Stating that the government was being proactive on this issue, she said that too many times the government was accused of being reactive instead of being proactive.
Apart from legislation, Hymawattie Lagan who led the discussions, said the draft national proposal included strengthening other related laws; cooperating with the law enforcement agencies; aggressive public education and awareness programmes; training of trainers to conduct the education and awareness programmes; collaboration with governmental and non-governmental organizations; involving youths and the schools; strengthening current contacts, locally, regionally and internationally; and strengthening relationships among the country's ten administrative regions.
Lagan noted that bringing on board the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport were important because TIP in many instances affected the youths.
Following the seminar, Lagan said the steering committee has to meet to re-examine the draft based on proposals coming out of the seminar. One of those proposals, she said, was to include young people on the committee to give their ideas to contribute to the process. Another recommendation, too, was to include the Ministry of Education on the committee because of the need to sensitise schoolchildren.
A Brazilian diplomat who was also present at the seminar, she said, recommended that Brasilia be notified by the government of any offences committed by Brazilian miners in relation to TIP. The diplomat, she said, related that the Brazilian Embassy had reports that there were underage persons working in the Brazilian mining camps but these could not be substantiated, as camps tend to shift rapidly.
The Brazilian Embassy has a special committee that meets its miners and it was felt that some education awareness programme could be conducted with them. There was also the need for the miners to be acquainted with the laws of the country.
Asked whether legislation would be ready before the 60-day period given by the US government for Guyana to comply with the basic requirements of the US TIP Act or face sanctions, Lagan said that the inter-agency committee was not looking at meeting the 60-day deadline but will work on a number of recommendations to improve the situation. The committee is working on long-term plans as with short-term plans "there is only so much we can do", she said.
The committee, she said, is currently working on setting up schedules to meet the country's chambers of commerce, restaurant owners, vendors, faith-based organisations, mining committees and local leaders, to carry out its sensitisation programmes.