Dear Editor,
I wish to state my profound disappointment with the response of the government in relation to the report on Trafficking in Persons. As a resident of the interior I am worried for many youths in our communities because our youths are vulnerable and are targeted. The issue of non-conviction of persons involved is testimony to the fact that there is limited awareness about this terrible issue.
The vulnerable persons are not those with many options. Poor youths with needs are migrating from our communities in search of a better life, and they grab any opportunity to get to the coastland. I know of persons who were clearly duped into believing that they were coming to work in good conditions but found out too late the real nature of the jobs for which people wanted to bring them to the coast.
Several girls with secondary education from my community were brought, presumably to work in stores in Georgetown. In reality they were taken to the goldmining areas and are now active prostitutes.
If Guyanese from the coastland are happy to go and do the menial jobs and hustle in the foreign cities and will give an eye and a tooth to get there, then Guyanese from the interior are equally determined to go to the coastland and suffer any indignity in order to make a living. Many of us have no choice. What is the plan for the Amerindian people to find economic security in their home towns? I am a skilled person and would like to make a living in my village, but I need electricity in order to produce economically. When will we have a telephone service in order to link and create business opportunities? I cannot go to the bank and secure a loan because my house and land cannot be used as collateral, so where can I find capital to start my business? When will I receive running water in my home? I just don’t see any signs of this intent; I feel that we Amerindians are taken lightly and are assumed not to have these needs. Our children don’t seem to be entitled to advanced schools and proper facilities, and there is no support to mechanise our farm production because as Amerindians we can do without it; we can live poorly and we don’t have need for money, so we are just taken for granted. The National Toshaos Council is just a puppet organization, because it is not capable of seeing our dilemma and so cannot craft policies for our advancement. So long as we Amerindians continue to be taken for granted and kept out of development we will always remain poor and will always be the primary victims of exploitation. I want the government to state that it will vigorously attack victimisation and educate our people about the danger. Denying the problem will sink us further into it, because it will embolden the perpetrators.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
