TIP 2021-2023 Action Plan for July launch

The Ministry of Home Affairs will soon launch its 2021-2023 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Action Plan aimed at combating TIP in Guyana through awareness, training and policy formulation.

This was disclosed by Coordinator (Ag.)  – Ministerial Taskforce on Trafficking in Persons, Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr. Daniel Griffith during an interview with DPI.

“We would like to have that launched by mid-July so actually this week, we will do the final vetting. The Minister of Human Services and Social Security and the Minister of Home Affairs would have already perused the document.

We would have done various stakeholders’ consultation and garnered their recommendations, so we already have the second draft. So, we are just fine-tuning and we are expected to have that completed by latest mid-July,” he said.

Mr. Griffith said due to COVID-19, the usual method by TIP perpetrators has evolved significantly. He said the Action Plan was crafted with that in mind.

“You would find more of their recruiting methods on more of an online platform, a more discrete platform, a more covert platform.

So, it requires a bit of tweaking to take that into consideration and also the economic boom that is impending. So, the new Action Plan addresses these areas in terms of formulation of policies and establishment of partnerships,” he said.

Mr. Griffith said there has been a rise in labour exploitation due to the pandemic, in many rural communities. He said the Action Plan will focus on raising awareness in those areas and provide training for community leaders. These include Toshaos, members of Community Policing Groups and others.  

“We are developing a new training manual, taking into consideration the changing dynamics of trafficking in persons in Guyana and the economy as a whole. This manual, when it is completed, there will be a trainer of trainer’s programme that would have persons going into the various regions,” he said.

Mr. Griffith noted that the Ministry was able to achieve 90 per cent of its objectives in the 2019-2020 Action Plan. He said this is considering the Action Plan was crafted prior to the pandemic. The Coordinator said it required quick adaptation to more intelligence driven investigation operations to keep on top of traffickers.

“We have ramped up efforts, having increased awareness in certain communities, both digitally and on the ground in keeping with the COVID-19 guidelines. We try to have more discourse with persons within the migrant communities.

So, we try to build that relationship to identify victims and offer assistance when found and implement prevention measures at try stop the act of trafficking in persons,” Mr. Griffith said.

In 2020, Guyana retained its Tier 1 ranking in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report of the United States Department of State for the fourth consecutive year.

This was credited to the efforts of the Ministries of Home Affairs and Human Services and Social Security’s regular awareness and training exercises countrywide.

Guyana and The Bahamas are the only two Caribbean countries with a Tier 1 ranking.