TIP National Plan of Action to focus Prevention, Prosecution, Protection and Partnership

By Mark Murray

Government today  (Wednesday January 18, 2017) announced major plans to improve efforts to combat the issue of Human Trafficking and plans to go after perpetrators guilty of committing this heinous act.

The two year National Plan of Action for the prevention and response to Trafficking in Persons launched by the Guyana Government should improve the country’s ranking in the US State Department TIP report.

Increased arrests, charges and convictions of alleged Trafficking in Person perpetrators by three hundred percent is what the Counter-Trafficking Unit is aiming for.

President David Granger remains hopeful that the fear of prosecution will serve as a deterrent against human trafficking.

It was during the launch of the action plan the Head of State pledged his government’s commitment to reversing this indifference towards the crime of trafficking in persons, but not without the support of all.

United States Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Holloway said the US is proud of Guyana’s improved ranking in the US 2016 trafficking in persons report, moving up from the Watchlist to Tier 2.

The US Ambassador also disclosed that a team of experts from the International Organisation of Migration will be in Guyana for a second training of front-line government officials and others fighting TIP on a daily basis.

In the meantime, Social Protection Minister Amna Ally said the cycle of human trafficking cannot be broken without protecting the rights of trafficked persons and introducing effective strategies to prevent the act.

The latest victory for Guyana is the conviction of two individuals who were found guilty by the Courts for human trafficking in 2015. According to the Counter-Trafficking Unit majority of TIP victims during the last three years were non-nationals which accounted for 41 percent of those rescued during those years.

It is also being reported that 44.2 percent of Trafficking in Persons would have occurred during that period in Region Four followed by Region Seven.