Several members of the local media have benefited from training in regard to trafficking in persons (TIP). The training is a collaborative effort between the Public Health Ministry and the Guyana Press Association.
The training was hosted at the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Officers’ Training Centre on Saturday. Co-coordinator of the Counter-TIP Unit, Tanisha Williams-Corbin, enlightened the media workers on definitions and explanations, made effective through a Powerpoint presentation, while highlighting the differences between TIP and other similar offences.
Human trafficking is defined as modern-day slavery involving recruitment, transportation, or harbouring of the victim by means of force, fraud, or coercion, to obtain some type of labour for commercial gain.
Some members of the local media who attended the training on Saturday
Williams-Corbin highlighted the similarities between human smuggling and trafficking. Human smuggling is the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation, or illegal entry of a person(s) across an international border in violation of one or more countries’ laws.
Williams-Corbin explained that while there is a difference between the two offences, there are similarities, as it is also possible that a person being smuggled may at any point become a trafficking victim.
Speaking on victim identification, the coordinator expounded that victims of TIP are usually isolated and subjected to limited movement, and may have had their documents confiscated, being subject to little or no pay, among other maladies.
The media also benefited from presentations from the Battered Woman’s Division of the Help and Shelter Indigenous People’s Commission (IPC).
Neil Bacchus, head of the 2011-founded Indigenous People’s Commission (IPC), expanded on the fight against TIP, based on his field work spanning indigenous communities across Guyana.
He communicated the difficulties in addressing the issue in vast and diverse areas of the country; language barrier and lack of resources being paramount hindrances.
At the conclusion of the training, the Director of the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA), Ann Greene, concluded the workshop with a presentation on the responsible reporting of juvenile matters.
