On the right track

Significant efforts on the part of the Government to eliminate human trafficking in Barbados have resulted in a marginal upgrade in status to Tier Two on the US Department of State’s 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report.

However, the country has not met the minimum standards in several key areas, including providing penalties commensurate with other serious crimes, according to the report which focused on the progress made to prosecute perpetrators, protect victims and prevent trafficking.

Barbados previously appeared on the Tier 2 Watchlist in the 2021 list, narrowly avoiding a further downgrade to Tier 3, which is the State Department’s lowest rating.  “The Government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore, Barbados was upgraded to Tier 2,” the report stated.

“These efforts included significantly increasing investigations; initiating two prosecutions and doing so for the first time since 2013; identifying a victim for the first time since 2016; improving victim screening, including by assessing whether authorities inappropriately incarcerated victims; making efforts to address complicity among police officers; and launching a public awareness campaign.

“However, the Government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The Government has never secured a trafficking conviction under the Trafficking in Persons Prevention Act (TIPPA). The anti-trafficking law did not provide penalties that were commensurate with other serious crimes. The Government did not contribute to training for any officials,” the 634-page document added.

Undocumented migrants from Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, and Venezuela continue to be identified as being at a “high risk” for trafficking, though individuals from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and St Vincent and the Grenadines are “increasingly vulnerable” to human trafficking.

The report also claims that Cuban workers who provided medical services during the pandemic “may have been forced to work by the Cuban government”.

“Previously, traffickers operated as part of an organisation; more recently, they appear to operate individually. Authorities have noted an increase in use of social media as a means of recruiting victims, which may have increased further due to the pandemic,” said US officials.

The report pointed out that penalties for adult trafficking range from a fine of up to BDS $1 million to 25 years imprisonment, or both, under the TIPPA, and fines of up to BDS $2 million and/or life imprisonment for persons convicted of trafficking children. The report however contends that by allowing a fine in lieu of imprisonment, the prescribed punishment for sex trafficking was not commensurate with other serious crimes like rape.

“The Government continued a process, begun in the previous reporting period with the assistance of a foreign government, to revise the sentencing guidelines for human trafficking and other crimes in order to eliminate fines as an alternative to imprisonment; the process remained ongoing at the end of the reporting period,” it noted.

Officials also took note of the Barbados Government’s reporting on 40 investigations over the reporting period, which included 25 for sex trafficking and another 15 for labour trafficking, compared with two new investigations each in 2019 and 2020.

On the other hand, officials noted the absence of investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in trafficking offences.

The report noted that the Government had “slightly” increased efforts to protect victims, identifying the first victim since 2016. That was credited to the updating of victim screening procedures by the Sex Crimes and Trafficking Unit and the Immigration Department.

“The Government reported law enforcement screened for trafficking indicators when detaining or arresting individuals involved in commercial sex, migrants, or other vulnerable groups; however, the Government reported there were few such opportunities due to the pandemic,” the State Department said.

Attorney General Dale Marshall was credited with heading the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons which included representatives from nine governmental entities and a non-governmental professional women’s organisation.

“The Task Force also worked with other government entities as needed. The Task Force and another NGO began to collaborate by having Task Force Public Service Announcements placed on the NGO’s social media platforms. The Task Force met three times during the reporting period, and the sub-committee on prevention met bi-weekly,” the report added. (TD)