The recent dismissal of five human trafficking cases against a female shop owner in the Bartica Magistrate’s Court is of grave concern to the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) whose President Simona Broomes has cited it as a clear indication of the authorities’ unwillingness to seriously address Trafficking in Persons (TIP) in Guyana.
Five human trafficking charges were dismissed against shop owner Ann Marie Carter by Magistrate Dylon Bess who ruled that insufficient evidence had been presented against the woman in court. Broomes said that some of the victims did not attend court and others did not return to complete giving evidence, and placed the blame for this at the feet of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security and its Child Protection Agency as well as the Guyana Police Force.
She questioned how the Guyana government could effectively tackle the TIP problem when the victims, most of
