Antigua & Barbuda Ready to Crack Down on Human Trafficking, Sex Tourism

Antigua & Barbuda Ready to Crack Down on Human Trafficking, Sex Tourism
By Carol Williams

Persons charged with maintaining law and order in Antigua & Barbuda are sharpening their skills to fight human trafficking –an offence which has been listed as the fastest growing trans-national criminal activity in the world.

The approximate 40 participants at the two-day workshop, sponsored by the Organization of American States (OAS), have been warned that this scourge exists in the Caribbean, which is particularly vulnerable due to high migration levels, porous borders, and dependence on tourism.

That assessment comes from Fernando Garcia-Robles, coordinator of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Unit at the OAS’ Department of Public Security.

“Although mainly a source region, the Caribbean is also becoming a transit point for trafficked women and men in Europe, Asia and or other economically developed countries in the western hemisphere,” he said yesterday, at the start of the workshop.

“Recent reports state that a number of Caribbean countries favored as tourist destinations are at the centre of a growing sex tourism industry. Studies in the region have revealed that every year, men, but particularly women and girls are recruited, transported, marketed and purchased by individual buyers, traffickers and members of trans-national organized crime syndicates who operate within Caribbean countries with the main purpose of sexually exploiting them.”

Minister of National Security and Labor Dr Errol Cort admitted that human trafficking is a problem in Antigua & Barbuda, but did not indicate how widespread it is.

This problem earned this country a Tier 2 ranking because of concerns about government’s efforts to combat trafficking in persons.

The US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Reports 2010 found that the Baldwin Spencer-led administration does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, though it added that significant efforts have been made to have this corrected.

The minister pledged: “I fully intend that with vigorous and continued work, Antigua & Barbuda will achieve Tier 1 status. Antigua & Barbuda has been making strides in improving its ranking and will continue so to do.”

This effort, he said, would be assisted by the two pieces of legislation – the Migrant Smuggling (Prevention) Act 2010, and the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention) Act 2010 – both of which became law in November 11th last year.

Human trafficking takes many forms including forced sexual exploitation, exploitation of labor, sex tourism, exploitation by begging, forced domestic services, illegal trafficking of organs and illegal adoptions.

The representative of the OAS’ Department of Public Security suggested that the rate of movement in ratio to population within the Caribbean might be one of the highest in the world.

Garcia-Robles said this, in addition to its geographical location and porous borders, makes the Caribbean strongly susceptible to trafficking in persons.

“Concerns have been raised that the freedom of movement that Caribbean nationals will enjoy as part of the Caribbean Community could result in an increase in human trafficking,” he said. “Although quantitative information is not always available from different regions, the Caribbean poses several trends that can increase its vulnerability to human trafficking.”

Meantime, Jean Dormeus, the OAS’ local representative, described the scourge as a modern form of slavery and a violation of human rights. He said because of the scope of the problem, it cannot be dealt with by individual countries.

“Fighting trafficking cannot be done solo. Even though this crime is sometimes committed at the national level, it often operates among several jurisdictions or states. Therefore it is imperative to face it in a coordinated and cooperative manner,” he said.

The workshop that is being held here is titled, “strengthening capacity of law enforcement officials, judges, and prosecutors in the Caribbean to identify and combat trafficking in persons, especially women and children.”