Georgetown: Efforts to arrest Trafficking in Persons (TIP) has been a challenge for the government and the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security and Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment will be collaborating to tackle the issue.
The challenge, Human Services Minister, Jennifer Webster noted, is particularly rooted in spread of the activities across Guyana’s vast geographic locations. She revealed that many of the TIP perpetrators are known to disguise their actions by venturing into mining camps located in hinterland communities. Being cognizant of such moves, she revealed that the Human Services Ministry, through its collaboration, has so far been able to orchestrate at least two raids which have, however, turned up no results.
“We plan the raids, turn up at the locations, and the people are gone. From the time we get the intelligence and we plan secret raids, these people just get away and sometimes the residents don’t cooperate,” the Minister lamented.
Despite this discouraging state of affairs, she disclosed that the Ministry was able to make some headway and has been able to have some perpetrators arrested and brought before the courts.
However Minister Webster is adamant that the prevalence of TIP in Guyana is not as dire as some would like to suggest. In fact she insisted that a number of persons have been confusing prostitution with trafficking in persons, adding that “the few that we know about, sometimes when we get the information and we go after the people involved, they run away and cross the border…How are we to catch them?”
“But I wouldn’t say that there is a high incidence,” the Minister reflected, even as she stressed that Government continues at the level of the National Task Force to work on initiatives aimed at preventing Trafficking in Persons. She admitted knowledge of reports of incidents of TIP involving young children in some hinterland areas, but disclosed that her Ministry is currently unveiling a number of sensitisation activities to address these. According to her, the Human Services Ministry is responsible for victim support, an undertaking which is required by law.
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