Govt to amend Combatting TIP Act 2005
-$500,000 fine per child trafficked
-11 cases before the court, one conviction for 2021
Government will be amending the Combating Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Act 2005, which will see stiffer penalties instituted against perpetrators.
Co-ordinator (Ag) of the Ministerial Taskforce on Trafficking in Persons – Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr. Daniel Griffith made this disclosure in an interview with DPI on Tuesday. He said the amended Act will be laid before the National Assembly.
Mr. Griffith said a fine of $500,000 per child will be imposed on persons bringing children into Guyana without parental authority. Prior to the amendment, the fine was a mere $50,000.
“There is a mechanism for restitution, this means a victim is awarded compensation for the trauma they would have gone through once a perpetrator has been convicted… also what you will find is specific agencies will have leading roles in terms of addressing trafficking in persons.”
Between January and May, the agency received 14 reports of trafficking and screened 49 victims; 42 women and seven men. Some 13 suspects have also been apprehended.
He said 34 victims were Venezuelans, eight Guyanese, six Jamaicans and one from India.
Some 11 persons from across the country are before the courts facing multiple charges for trafficking. One person has already been convicted.
“What we find is that in the mining districts, in terms of a lot of rural area, while the overall in the previous years, a number of cases would have occurred in Region Four, we have seen a shift to some extent at least for the first quarter into the more rural areas. This is primarily because of the lockdown,” he said.
Mr. Griffith also noted that due to COVID-19, most victims were being trafficked for labour and not so much for sexual exploitation. This is a result of the pandemic somewhat crippling the entertainment and service industries.
In 2020, Guyana retained its Tier 1 ranking in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report of the United States Department of State. It was the fourth consecutive year Guyana received Tier 1 ranking.
This is credited to the efforts of the Ministries of Home Affairs and Human Services and Social Security’s regular awareness and training exercises countrywide.