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| Minister of Family, Youth, Sports and the Environment, Dr Esther Byer-Suckoo said government's approach to the issue of human trafficking would be evidenced-based. (File photo) | |
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, June 11, 2008 - Research is to be done by the Bureau of Gender Affairs in Barbados to investigate the prevalence of human trafficking in this country and implement laws to deal with perpetrators.
This disclosure has come from Minister of Family, Youth, Sports and the Environment, Dr Esther Byer-Suckoo, who said government's approach to the issue of human trafficking would be evidenced-based.
"The findings of this research will inform and guide government's policy response, especially as we would know the true nature of the practice, the groups at greatest risk, the spheres of activity and the means employed by traffickers to dupe their victims into the web. Only with this information will we be in a position to put appropriate systems in place," she said at a recent Human Trafficking Seminar where participants reviewed the draft protocol on that subject.
She said that in spite of Barbados' lack of specific legislation addressing human trafficking, the country was even now prepared to prosecute offenders under the existing legislation, specifically the Sexual Offences Act, the Immigration Act, labour laws and regulations and any other statutes that were applicable to prosecute offenders.
"Take note too, that government will be moving in the direction of establishing the appropriate laws and will be complementing these with appropriate penalties to send a clear and distinct message that human trafficking, modern day slavery or any of its manifestations will not be tolerated on these shores. We put the practice of slavery behind us 160 years ago and we do not intend to allow it to return in any remodelled form," the Minister said.
She noted that she had already reviewed the draft protocol for the treatment of victims of human trafficking and stressed that they would not be treated as criminals. The protocol, she explained, made provision for their humane treatment once they were verified as bona fide victims and various agencies would be involved in securing their welfare.
Barbados signed the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime in 2001, but has not ratified it as yet. The island has been categorised as a host or destination country for victims of human trafficking.
Dr Byer-Suckoo said this country owed it to those unsuspecting individuals who fell prey to ensure that justice was served when they reached these shores.
She argued that it was a hideous crime to abduct or lure persons from their homes, whatever the conditions, to circumstances of exploitation and keep them under abject conditions by the use of force or other means of control.
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