VZCZCXRO5284
PP RUEHGR
DE RUEHGE #0123/01 0581627
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271627Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7063
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 GEORGETOWN 000123 
 
STATE FOR G/TI, G, INL, DRL, PRM, WHA/CAR 
STATE PASS TO USAID/LAC/CAR-BONCY 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KTIP PREF ELAB SMIG ASEC KCRM KWMN KFRD GY
SUBJECT: NINTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
ASSESSMENT - GUYANA 
 
REF: STATE 132759 
 
¶1. (U) The following is Embassy Georgetown's submission of 
information requested in reftel for the 2009 Trafficking in Persons 
Report. 
 
¶2. (SBU) GUYANA'S TIP SITUATION: 
 
¶A.  Sources of information used to compile this report include: the 
Guyanese media; the Ministry of Home Affairs; the Ministry of Labor, 
Human Services and Social Security (M0LHSSS); the Director of Public 
Prosecutions (DPP); the Guyana Police Force (GPF); the victim's 
assistance NGO Help and Shelter; the local office of the U.S.-based 
NGO Catholic Relief Services; the U.S. Department of Labor-funded 
program EDUCARE, run by Partners of the Americas, which addresses 
child labor; the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA); the 
International Organization for Migration; and members of Parliament 
representing both the government and the opposition. Post has also 
conducted its own investigations, which included talking with 
prostitutes. 
 
All of these sources have some degree of reliability when it comes 
to reporting on TIP, but none can be considered authoritative. This 
illustrates the most vexing challenge when addressing TIP in Guyana: 
the dearth of verifiable, firsthand evidence that can inform a 
broader assessment. The aforementioned sources for this report have 
varying perspectives on the nature and degree of TIP in Guyana, 
although no source has offered information to substantiate the claim 
that TIP is a rampant and pervasive phenomenon. 
 
Until recently, no broad-based, thorough surveys regarding 
trafficking based on firsthand, recent data existed.  However, an 
expansive survey and analysis published in 2008 about the extent of 
child labor in Guyana, carried out by the aforementioned 
USDOL-funded Partners of the Americas project EDUCARE, produced some 
surprising findings regarding the trafficking of children. Of more 
than 5,000 high-risk Guyanese children interviewed, the survey found 
that only 20 - less than one-half of one percent of the target 
population - had engaged in one of the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
(WFCL), which includes all forms of child trafficking. (Note: The 
"high-risk" designation referred to the fact that all of the 
interviewed children were either school dropouts already, or had 
been attending less than fifty percent of classes.) While this 
survey did not cover potential trafficking victims at least eighteen 
years of age, and like any population survey was limited at some 
level by the laws of statistics, its wide scope and sound 
methodology give its findings considerable credibility. 
 
¶B.  The majority of the few reported TIP cases in Guyana are 
internal trafficking. There have been a few alleged trafficking 
cases involving Guyanese lured to neighboring countries, although 
only one recent case proved to be trafficking. There have been no 
reported cases of foreign citizens trafficked into or through 
Guyana. There is no discernable pattern or single destination for 
trafficking victims within the country; cases have been found at 
various locations along the coast (where ninety percent of the 
country's population lives), as well as inland. 
 
¶C.  Trafficking cases generally involve either forced prostitution 
or forced domestic labor in locations far from their home community, 
and sometimes both. Victims are generally forced to work in a 
bar/restaurant, and have no capacity to return to their home or 
place of origin, principally due to lack of funds. 
 
¶D.  The demographic group most vulnerable to trafficking is young 
Amerindian women/girls, although trafficking cases have also 
involved women from the country's predominant Indo-Guyanese and 
Afro-Guyanese communities. Amerindians constitute approximately ten 
percent of Guyana's population, and are largely concentrated in the 
country's vast, sparsely inhabited interior. Due to extreme poverty 
and a lack of local economic opportunity, Amerindian women/girls are 
thus among the most likely to be lured by the promise of a better 
job elsewhere. It should also be noted, however, that many such 
young women (and young men) leave their communities of their own 
volition, and freely choose to remain in their distant place of 
employment - often working in very harsh conditions - for the very 
same reasons of economic desperation. 
 
¶E.  There are no indications of organized human trafficking rings or 
criminal enterprises involving internal trafficking cases. All 
reported cases have involved instances whereby an individual or 
couple has lured or trapped a single victim. Sources indicate that 
victims from the interior are generally brought to the coast 
 
GEORGETOWN 00000123  002 OF 005 
 
 
individually, and are reportedly never brought in groups. The few 
cases of Guyanese who have been trafficked in other countries are 
harder to comment on, but also appear to have involved isolated 
individual cases rather than any organized criminal syndicates. 
 
¶3. (SBU) SETTING THE SCENE FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-TIP EFFORTS: 
 
¶A.  The Government of Guyana (GoG) does acknowledge that trafficking 
exists in the country - if it did not, it would investigate and 
prosecute zero cases, and provide zero funds for victims. Absolute 
denial of the occurrence of TIP, or of the awful impact of the crime 
on its victims, does not occur at any level of the Jagdeo government 
(in power since 1999). What the GoG does challenge, and quite 
vociferously, is the assertion that TIP constitutes a widespread 
problem in Guyana, and more importantly that the government's 
actions to combat TIP are/have been wholly inadequate. This 
sentiment is generally voiced in relation to the State Department's 
annual TIP report, the release of which results in considerable 
local media attention, much like the Department's Human Rights 
Report and International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR). 
The GoG's general argument is that while TIP does occur, the 
incidence is relatively minor, and that the government's efforts to 
prevent, prosecute, and protect TIP meet and even exceed reasonable 
expectations for what it should be doing to address the problem. 
 
¶B.  The Ministry of Home Affairs is the lead GoG agency for 
combating TIP, with Minister Clement Rohee serving as Chair of the 
government's National Task Force for Combating Trafficking in 
Persons. The Ministry of Home Affairs - which also is the agency in 
charge of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) - is responsible for 
handling the law enforcement side of TIP. The Ministry of Labor, 
Human Services, and Social Security (MOLHSSS), led by Minister Priya 
Manickchand, is the lead agency for victim-related issues. The 
Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, and 
the Ministry of Education participate in the task force. The task 
force also includes interested local non-government organizations. 
 
¶C.  Guyana is a country slightly larger than England, covered mostly 
in dense forest, and hosts an approximate population of a mere 
760,000.  Annual per capita GDP is approximately $1,200, making it 
the poorest country in South America, and one of the poorest in the 
Western Hemisphere. The government's recently released annual budget 
was its largest ever - a paltry $640 million. Guyana also has the 
distinction of having the highest rate of "brain drain" in the world 
- almost 90% of its college graduates and skilled professionals 
emigrate due to better opportunities elsewhere. In short, Guyana's 
geographic size, sparse population, extremely modest financial 
resources, and dearth of skilled labor greatly limit the efforts the 
government can make towards addressing any social challenge or 
problem, TIP included. 
 
¶D.  The government's task force monitors the government's anti-TIP 
efforts, and in 2008 produced a report that was available to the 
public and other interlocutors. The various branches of the 
government have been transparent both with the embassy and with 
other external sources in providing data and discussing TIP policy, 
and has been willing to address TIP cases that come to its 
attention. 
 
¶4. (SBU) INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF TRAFFICKERS: 
 
¶A.  The Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act became law in 2005. 
In addition, perpetrators who kidnap or lure victims for purposes of 
sexual exploitation may be charged under Guyanese Criminal Law 
Chapter 8.01, Section 87 (forced detention-sex) and sections 72 and 
73 (procurement). There is no new legislation to report this year. 
 
¶B.  Traffickers convicted on summary judgment (lesser offenses) are 
subject to prison terms of 3-5 years.  Traffickers convicted on 
indictment (more serious offenses) are subject to prison terms of 5 
years to life imprisonment.  All convicted traffickers are subject 
to confiscation of property used or gained during the course of the 
crime and could be ordered to pay restitution to victims. In 
addition, convicted traffickers face: 
 
-two additional years imprisonment if the person used, threatened to 
use, or caused another to use or threaten to use a dangerous 
weapon; 
-five additional years imprisonment if the victims suffers a serious 
bodily injury or if the crime involves sexual assault; 
-five additional years imprisonment if the trafficking victim was 
exposed to life threatening illness or was forced into any addiction 
to drugs and/or medication; 
 
GEORGETOWN 00000123  003 OF 005 
 
 
-ten additional years imprisonment if the victim suffers a permanent 
or life-threatening injury; 
-three additional years imprisonment if the crime was organized by 
an organized criminal contingent; 
-four additional years imprisonment if the crime resulted from abuse 
of power or a position of authority. 
 
¶C.  Punishment of labor trafficking offenses carries the same 
penalties as trafficking for sexual exploitation. 
 
¶D.  Guyanese criminal law calls for life imprisonment for rape, five 
years for sexual assault, and ten years for forced detention for 
purposes of sexual exploitation. However, judges have discretion in 
sentencing, with 5 to 10 years imprisonment being the trend. This 
compares to a possible sentence of 5 years to life under the TIP 
Act. 
 
¶E.  The GoG initiated one trafficking prosecution during the 
reporting period, and continued the prosecution of one other case 
that was initiated the previous year. The Director of Public 
Prosecutions recently recommended filing trafficking charges against 
two individuals in a third case, although as of press time those 
charges had not yet been filed by police prosecutors. A police 
investigation continues into a fourth case. All four cases involved 
alleged commercial sexual exploitation of children. All trafficking 
prosecutions are based on the 2005 law cited in section 4 above. To 
date, no trafficking convictions have been obtained. 
 
¶F.  Several members of the GoG have participated in week-long 
anti-TIP training provided by the International Organization for 
Migration (IOM), and those individuals have in turn trained others 
involved in the government's TIP efforts. For example, in July 2008, 
the Guyana Police Force instituted a mandatory full-day training 
session on trafficking in persons for senior and mid-level officers 
of its Criminal Investigations Division. This training is conducted 
by officers who had participated in IOM-provided training 
previously, and is now carried out on a biannual basis. It covers a 
variety of areas, including how to recognize and investigate 
possible TIP cases. 
 
¶G.  The government cooperated with governments in Suriname and 
Trinidad and Tobago regarding reported individual incidents of 
Guyanese TIP victims in each of those countries. It also reached out 
to authorities in Barbados relating to a possible TIP case there, 
although no response was received. (The case turned out not to be 
trafficking.) 
 
¶H.  The GoG has not been asked to extradite any individuals for 
alleged TIP offenses, nor has it sought the extradition of alleged 
TIP offenders from other countries. 
 
¶I.  In 2006, a member of the GPF was accused of peripheral 
involvement in a trafficking case, but the case was dismissed from 
court. There have been no other reports of direct involvement in 
trafficking cases on the part of government officials, nor is there 
any evidence that government officials condone or tolerate TIP on an 
institutional level. 
 
¶J.  Not applicable, based on answer provided in previous paragraph. 
 
¶K.  Prostitution, including the activities of the prostitute, the 
brothel owner/operator, clients, and pimps, is illegal in Guyana, 
but the law is not enforced. Prostitution is openly practiced in 
some areas; many prostitutes acknowledge their choice to engage in 
the profession, almost always for the want of a more gainful 
employment alternative. The age of sexual consent is sixteen years; 
however, Guyana's 2005 Combating Trafficking Law defines a child as 
"anyone under eighteen", and specifically affirms that "age of 
consent to sex shall not be used as a defense to trafficking in 
persons." 
 
¶L.  Guyana does not contribute troops to international peacekeeping 
missions. 
 
¶M.  There have been no reports of child sex tourism in Guyana. 
 
¶5. (SBU) PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS: 
 
¶A.  The 2005 Combating Trafficking law gives the government wide 
authority to provide assistance to TIP victims, and offers both 
victims and potential witnesses protection from reprisals. In 
alleged or confirmed trafficking cases, the government has willingly 
provided social assistance to the victims, including in emergency 
 
GEORGETOWN 00000123  004 OF 005 
 
 
situations. In the recent case of a woman who was a TIP victim in 
Trinidad and Tobago, the government hastily arranged for a plane 
ticket for the woman to escape back to Guyana. Upon her return, the 
government provided vocational training and a stipend to help her 
reintegrate. 
 
¶B.  The country's foremost shelter for victims of domestic violence, 
Help and Shelter, is also a shelter for TIP victims, and receives a 
government subsidy. In 2008, the GoG contributed $45,000 for Help 
and Shelter's assistance shelter, which constituted a fifty percent 
increase over 2007 funding. Foreign victims have the same access to 
care as Guyanese victims. 
 
¶C.  The government provides medical and counseling services to TIP 
victims through the Ministry of Human Services as called for in 
individual cases. 
 
¶D.  As noted earlier, no foreign trafficking victims have been 
reported in Guyana, although the 2005 law offers equivalent social 
benefits and protection to foreign victims. 
 
¶E.  As noted in paragraph A, when circumstances warrant the GoG does 
provide social assistance to help TIP victims reintegrate. 
 
¶F.  When a possible TIP victim is detained or discovered, generally 
by members of the GPF, the Ministry of Human Services anti-TIP unit 
is contacted in order to provide assistance or make other 
appropriate arrangements for the victim. This often involves 
facilitating temporary residence at a shelter. 
 
¶G.  In this reporting period there were eight alleged cases of 
trafficking, although upon further investigation by police five were 
not actual TIP cases. Help and Shelter reported they have not 
received any requests for assistance from a TIP victim since 2007, 
when they had two such cases. (By contrast, Help and Shelter 
reported that it handled 468 domestic violence cases in 2008.) 
 
¶H.  The government seeks to identify possible trafficking cases 
through spot inspections of workplaces by inspectors of the Ministry 
of Labor, as well as brothel raids by police where trafficking 
victims are thought to be held. These efforts have resulted in 
uncovering two potential trafficking cases, although neither proved 
to be so upon further investigation. (They have also resulted in 
identifying numerous cases of labor exploitation under Guyanese law, 
but none that constituted trafficking.) 
 
Additionally, beginning in June 2008, the government's multi-agency 
task force on trafficking in persons has established "focal points" 
in communities around the country to help refer possible cases, 
assist with investigations, and raise public awareness. (In the one 
case in which trafficking charges were brought this reporting 
period, a focal point person in the victim's home community played a 
crucial role in informing authorities.) It is now working to build 
capacity further among these individuals in identifying potential 
TIP cases in their respective communities. 
 
¶I.  No trafficking victims have been jailed, detained, or fined. 
 
¶J.  The government does encourage victims to assist in the 
investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases, and the Ministry 
of Human Services pays to transport victims from their homes to the 
relevant jurisdiction for legal proceedings against the alleged 
perpetrators. Nonetheless, crucial victim testimony often does not 
materialize. Victims sometimes refuse to testify for fear of 
eventual reprisal, or they stop showing up in court due to the 
numerous and often arduous trips necessary to see a case to 
conclusion. (Note: Many legal cases in Guyana take so long to reach 
resolution that they die out or are dismissed before a judgment is 
rendered. End Note.) The 2005 law provides victims opportunities to 
seek legal redress against perpetrators, including through 
restitution, although this avenue has not been tested in practice. 
There are no restrictions on material witnesses' freedom of 
movement. 
 
¶K.  As noted in paragraph 4F, those government participants in 
IOM-provided training have begun conducting exercises for law 
enforcement personnel in how to recognize and investigate possible 
TIP cases. 
 
¶L.  As noted in paragraph 5A, the government did provide substantial 
aid to a Guyanese trafficking victim in Trinidad, including a plane 
ticket home and financial assistance upon her arrival. 
 
 
GEORGETOWN 00000123  005 OF 005 
 
 
¶M.  The local NGOs Help and Shelter, cited above, and Red Thread 
work with trafficking victims. Both have experienced generally 
positive cooperation with authorities in TIP cases. 
 
¶6. (SBU) PREVENTION: 
 
¶A.  After a nationwide series of awareness and sensitization 
exercises conducted by Human Services Minister Manickchand in the 
previous reporting period, the government undertook training 
activities for the aforementioned community focal points in this 
reporting period. These sessions, which focused on identifying and 
reporting on potential TIP cases, were conducted in eight of the 
country's ten administrative regions; the other two regions will be 
reached in the coming months. Approximately 100 individuals total 
participated in these sessions, which each lasted a day. 
 
¶B.  The government does not monitor emigration/immigration patterns 
for evidence of trafficking. 
 
¶C.  As noted in paragraph 3(B), the interagency National Task Force 
for Combating Trafficking in Persons is the primary means for formal 
coordination, although the TIP units within the GPF and Ministry for 
Human Services exchange information on a regular basis. 
 
¶D.  The government does have a National Plan to Combat Trafficking 
in Persons, which was produced in 2005. A number of the endeavors it 
has undertaken stem from its proposals. The government is currently 
assembling a new action plan that will address its proposed anti-TIP 
activities for the next few years. 
 
¶E.  Since 2005, the government has undertaken numerous and 
consistent advertising campaigns directed at promoting the "ABCs" 
(Abstinence, Being Faithful, using a Condom). This is done in the 
context of promoting HIV/AIDS awareness, although the message of 
making smart decisions about sexual activity is also relevant to 
reducing demand for commercial sex acts. 
 
¶F.  With a per capita income of approximately $1,200, Guyana is 
widely assumed to not have a problem with its nationals 
participating in international sex tourism, nor has any such 
information ever been reported. Accordingly, the government has not 
taken measures to reduce such participation. 
 
¶G.  As noted in paragraph 4L, Guyana does not contribute troops to 
international peacekeeping efforts. 
 
End text. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Embassy Georgetown's point of contact is Rolf Olson, 
Political/Economic Officer, FS-02, telephone (592)225-4900, ext. 
4214, IVG 747-4214, fax (592) 227-0240. This report was drafted in 
12 hours; related investigations and meetings involved 60 hours. 
 
JONES