The Ministry of Public Security’s Task Force aimed at the lucrative criminal enterprise of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) is not resting on its laurels, despite its recent elevation to Tier One status in the United States Department of State’s 2017 TIP Report.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the Task Force is in the process of implementing a 2017-2018 National Plan of Action for the Prevention and Response to Trafficking in Persons and has recently completed a number of activities in this regard. These include a number of training and ‘sensitization’ courses across the country in regions One, Three, Four, Five, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten, where participants included anti-TIP stakeholders, toshaos, police officers, community development officers, teachers, dredge owners, village councillors, secondary school students, communities and public-spirited citizens.
Participants were briefed on the government’s commitment to investing resources and collaborating with other stakeholders to reform and strengthen current strategies and to implement new strategies to effectively combat the ever-changing schemes of traffickers, the MPS statement said. Topics presented included TIP victim identification, the role and responsibilities of the Task Force, and services available for victims in Guyana. Police officers were brought update on the ‘Best practices for the investigation of TIP cases’ whilst toshaos and councillors from Region Nine were sensitized on their rights and responsibilities under the Sexual Offences Act, the Domestic Act, the Labour Act and Combatting Trafficking in Persons Act. The latter being conducted in conjunction with the ministries of Social Protection and Indigenous People’s Affairs.
