Both the International Organisation on Migration (IOM) and the US Department of State have said that human trafficking is taking place in T&T. This is according to National Security Minister Brigadier John Sandy, who revealed this during his Senate presentation of the Trafficking In Persons Bill, 2011, yesterday. The legislation seeks to give effect to the United Nations Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in people, especially women and children. Sandy said human trafficking was a rapidly growing global phenomenon “and it is currently the second most profitable criminal activity surpassed only by narcotics trafficking.”
He added: “Statistical and anecdotal data indicate that the offence of trafficking in people is evolving in Trinidad and Tobago. “The IOM and the US State Department of State both report that Trinidad and Tobago is a country of transit and destination and may well be a country of origin,” Sandy told legislators. Noting that there had also been international media reports of the crime taking place in T&T, Sandy said: “Initial in-house research appears to corroborate the findings of the IOM and the US Department of State, particularly with respect to Trinidad and Tobago as a transit and destination country.” He added that incidents of human trafficking in T&T were “for the purposes of sexual and labour exploitation’s and domestic servitude.” Sandy said IOM reports indicated that “in the last year, there were six cases of human trafficking, and in 2009, 11 such incidents.”
Sandy said if the reports were proven to be correct “this would reflect a disturbing and disheartening reality.” Sandy added: “Statistics regarding the number of cases cannot be substantiated as there is officially no central repository for such information.” He said because there was no offence as human trafficking in T&T, “no prosecutions for this specific crime are conducted.” He said T&T was now under international scrutiny because it lacked appropriate human trafficking legislation. Sandy said there were “too many entities” involved in the issue of human trafficking. He said those include, “hotels, motels, construction sites factories, massage parlous, recruitment agencies , taxi services and transportation companies.” He said operators of those services “must now be on the guard as closer scrutiny will be placed on them.”
The minister said police would be allowed to enter, search and seize articles, vehicles or property in their investigation of any human trafficking offence. Sandy said the bill was a clear signal that T&T was moving “to bring itself into compliance with minimum international standards pertaining to the crime of human trafficking, and that the Government is seeking to address the issue in its embryonic stages before it becomes a widespread criminal activity.” Sandy said two bodies would be legally establish to deal with aspects of the fight against human trafficking in T&T—the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons and Counter Trafficking Unit. He said the National Task Force would develop a national counter-trafficking plan for the prevention of trafficking in people.
