Dear Editor,
I felt like Rip Van Winkle when as I was browsing some past magazines from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development in England, I came across an article titled: “Alarming Rise in Modern Slavery” in the October 2016 issue. The following are extracts from the article.
“The number of slavery victims helped by the Salvation Army has increased by almost five-fold since 2012….Women were the most likely to be victims, at 62 per cent… The release of the figures comes as the Government is backing a number of initiatives to eradicate examples of modern slavery…..most notable the Modern Slavery Act which requires employers to publish a slavery and human trafficking statement for each financial year……A government Review published a year after the introduction of the Act found that 289 modern slavery offences were prosecuted in 2015, which showed a 40 per cent rise in victims.”
I have so far lived with the conviction that ‘slavery’, like ‘indenture-ship’ had long disappeared from around the world, primarily the UK which was once the prime-owner of slaves! To read about current day slavery therein is indeed mind-boggling! And almost unbelievable to read that it is” rising alarmingly”, despite a prohibitive act.
It would be re-assuring to hear from our Ministry of Labour or any other concerned Department that there is no case of slavery in Guyana, let alone “rising cases”!
Sincerely,
Nowrang Persaud
