(Trinidad Express) There are reports of people from small Caribbean islands being held as virtual slaves in homes in Trinidad, said Foreign Affairs Minister Surujrattan Rambachan.
“From time to time, you hear in this country, up to this day, about people who are virtually slaves in homes of people in this country. Who have been brought from Guyana… (or) other small islands and working as supposedly maidservants in homes, their passports taken away and they cannot get out of their homes and begging people to get out of the country,” Rambachan said.
He was speaking in Parliament on Friday during debate on the Human Trafficking bill at the Red House, Port of Spain.
He said in a United States 2010 trafficking report, Trinidad and Tobago was described as a destination for forced prostitution of women and children and forced labour for men.
Rambachan said in 2007, 71 women and children in Marabella were held by authorities, many with fraudulent passports and some had previously been deported from T&T.
On the issue of smuggling, he said there were reports of people being smuggled into this country through Moruga, Carli Bay and Cedros. He also noted that many people from Asian countries were setting up businesses in T&T, advising that immigration officers look into whether there were any situations of forced labour.
“Chinese labour,” Minister in the Ministry of Labour Rudy Indarsingh chimed in.
Rambachan also read from media reports about human trafficking in Trinidad and wondered what the People’s National Movement (PNM) did about it and why legislation was not brought to Parliament. He said the previous administration “always had an excuse” and downplayed the problem.
Point Fortin MP and former foreign affairs minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said the PNM government had ratified an international protocol on human trafficking, drafted legislation, set up a multi-agency task force and had authorities being trained by the International Organisation for Migration.
