By Gordon French
Caribbean Net News Guyana Correspondent
Email: gordon@caribbeannetnews.com
GEORGETOWN, Guyana: Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Priya Manichand, says Guyana continues to pursue alleged human traffickers, cautioning that the South American nation will not trump-up charges against anyone to look good in any report.
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| Guyana Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Priya Manichand |
The US has placed Guyana on its “Tier 2 Watch List” for failing to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons (TIP) over the past year, particularly in terms of convicting and sentencing human traffickers.
Manichand, whose ministry has set up a TIP unit, said that every reported case of human trafficking is vigorously investigated with a view of getting a conviction, but added that Government will not call for conviction, since every suspect is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
She added that the US report did recognise the efforts being made by government to address the problem, especially the enactment of the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act, which spells out stiff penalties for offenders. However, the report also noted that government has yet to obtain an anti-trafficking conviction.
“We will not be manufacturing any charges against anyone to satisfy any statistic, but we continue to work with the Guyana Police Force to vigorously investigate any reported cases of human trafficking,” Manichand stated.
The US 2007 TIP Report, released on Tuesday by the State Department, firmly stated that the government should aggressively investigate and arrest suspected traffickers, and make every effort to move their cases through the criminal justice system.
Manichand said that there needs to be swifter hearings in TIP cases, noting that approaches will be made to the judiciary to have the issue discussed.
The US report noted that six criminal cases were opened against alleged traffickers in 2006, with two of the cases being dismissed, and four were still pending.
According to the US report, this represents a modest increase from 2005, when three prosecutions were initiated. According to the report, Guyana is principally a source country for men, women, and children trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour.
The US report stated that Amerindian girls from the interior are trafficked to coastal areas for sexual exploitation, and young Amerindian men are exploited under forced labour conditions in timber camps. In some instances, victims are abducted.
Additionally, Guyanese women and girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation to neighbouring countries such as Suriname, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Brazil, and the US, the report stated. | 
