GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The government has taken an aggressive approach towards ending the scourge of human trafficking, with the passing of the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Bill 2023 in the National Assembly on Wednesday evening.
Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, said the bill received extensive work from local and international bodies as well as comprehensive consultations,
“The objective of this bill is to provide measures to combat trafficking in persons, including children, and it sets out a litany of criminal offenses with extraterritorial effect, and this extraterritorial effect facilitates partnership and cooperation between Guyana and other states to prevent and suppress trafficking in persons and of course, it gives a wider scope to punish offenders,” she stated.
Under the new legislation, anyone who commits the offense is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for five years. Conviction on indictment carries a penalty of life imprisonment.
Minister Persaud added that there would also be significant fines, charges, and convictions relative to attempts of conspiracy or complacent acts of trafficking.
“The bill speaks to the establishment of the ministerial task force. The religious task force, by this legislation, must be appointed by the president. This task force comprises members of various sectors, including immigration, law enforcement, legal affairs, foreign affairs, public health and Amerindian affairs, human services, and social security.
“It is to be chaired by the Ministers of Home Affairs and Human Services, and this task force is to develop a plan of action…that focuses on many important components that deal with, specifically, trafficking in person and also includes the compilation of a report coming out of data collection to be presented to cabinet,” she underscored.
Endorsing the bill, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall indicated that restitution is an approach that must be pursued to hurt perpetrators of human trafficking.
Restitution is a legal method for victims to receive compensation for profits that traffickers withhold from them, additional losses they might suffer, and future costs they incur from being trafficked.
“If you hit the criminal in the pockets, if you hit them financially, and you hurt them economically, you’ll eventually hurt them. So, in anti-money laundering offenses, terrorism, in the trafficking of firearms, in the trafficking in narcotics, and human trafficking, you find that concept has been embraced fully in this bill,” the AG noted.
Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn revealed that his ministry’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Unit had made several successful strides in combating human trafficking.
“In 2022, we had 22 cases where people who [were] actively apprehended and interrogated with some arrest, we had 22 operations with 247 victims screened and interviewed and one conviction archived. In 2023, five cases were put before the courts, 12 operations were conducted, 190 suspected victims interviewed and screened, and two convictions,” he said.
Meanwhile, the human service ministry’s Counter-TIP Unit has trained 2,003 people to recognize those victims of human trafficking better.
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