In the last six years, 46 foreign men and women were victims of human trafficking on T&T shores.
The victims, nationals of Colombia, Guyana, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, were trafficked specifically for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and labour exploitation.
The women are brought into the country by a recruiter who sells them to a local trafficker for $1,500.
To date, no trafficker has been convicted or jailed.
Of the 46 victims, 28 females and one male were used for sexual exploitation, while six males and one female were exploited for labour.
Only one female was exploited for domestic servitude. Nine other victims were reported to be sexually exploited, but their sex was not revealed.
Victims of sexual exploitation are usually lured by promises of employment in another country. An organised network is used to transport the victims to the destination country, where they find themselves forced into sexual slavery and held in inhumane conditions and constant fear.
Labour exploitation takes place when victims are recruited and trafficked using deception and coercion and find themselves held in conditions of slavery in a variety of jobs, while domestic servitude is the seemingly normal practice of live-in help used as cover for the exploitation and control of someone, usually from another country. It is a form of forced labour.
On Friday, the statistics were revealed to the T&T Guardian by the deputy director of the Counter Trafficking Unit (CTU) Alana Wheeler in a bid to raise awareness about human trafficking in the country.
Since CTU was established they have rescued 24 foreign victims, Wheeler said. Another 13 people are also before the court for human trafficking offences. No one has been fined or jailed and the matters continue in the court.
Statistics show that between June 2009 and August 2012, 22 per cent of (unconfirmed) trafficking victims were nationals of the Dominican Republic, whereas 31 per cent were from Colombia. The fewest came from Guyana with eight per cent, while Venezuela recorded the highest figure with 39 per cent.
For the period January 2013 to September 2015, Venezuela had the highest (confirmed) trafficking victims in T&T, while Colombia and Guyana had the second highest. Trailing behind was the Dominican Republic.
The data revealed that in 2009 nine victims were exploited sexually, including a male.
In 2010, the ministry recorded nine females being sexually exploited, while three males were trafficked for labour.
No data was available for 2011 and 2012.
However, in 2013, the statistics showed that one female was trafficked for domestic servitude, two males for labour and ten females for sexual exploitation.
Up to September of this year, six females were reported to have been sexually exploited, while the T&T Police Service (TTPS) is conducting investigations involving two females under the age of 18 who were exploited for sex.
The CTU was established in 2013 after proclamation of the Trafficking in Persons Act, 2011. Under that act, a child is considered anyone under the age of 18.
CTU is a specialised unit under the Ministry of National Security.
Enacted in 2011, the act gives effect to the United Nations protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in people, especially women and children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime, which was signed by T&T and ratified in 2007.
Women, girls prime targets
In August, Wheeler’s unit partnered with the Victims and Witness Support Unit of the TTPS headed by Margaret Sampson-Browne and president of The Children’s Ark (TCA) Simone de la Bastide, to bring awareness and help prevent human trafficking of children and young girls, which has become a thriving billion dollar global sex trade industry.
Wheeler said while they have rescued many adult victims between the ages of 19 and 45, “that does not mean we do not have child victims in Trinidad. So far, we have not rescued any. We have investigated child cases, but those did not materialise into actual human trafficking cases. In fact, we currently have one that we are awaiting word from the DPP with respect to charging and that involves a 17-year-old boy (a foreign national) who was possibly trafficked for forced labour.”
The 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report on the US Embassy’s T&T website stated that the T&T government’s anti-trafficking unit investigated 35 possible cases of trafficking and confirmed four of the 35 were trafficking, including one forced labour and three sex trafficking cases.
“The government initiated the prosecution of one suspected sex trafficker under the 2011 anti-trafficking law, a decrease from the initiation of prosecutions against 12 defendants in 2013. The government has yet to convict a trafficker and all prosecutions from previous years remained pending, though one defendant died,” the report stated.
It also stated that the Government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts.
Wheeler said human trafficking was not only an age issue but “a gender issue as well.”
A 2014 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report, Wheeler said, showed that one in three victims of trafficking tended to be a child, while two of out three child victims were girls. She said 70 per cent of trafficking victims were women and girls.
Globally over 1.2 million children are trafficked each year.
Wheeler said engaging a child in labour, pornography, commercial sex or selling them to an adult for sexual services to finance their education was exploitation. Exploitation includes when a child is used in arm conflict, sold as a bride, illegally adopted or forced to beg on the streets by an adult, she added.
Wheeler said, for example, many girls responded to advertisements in the newspaper to work in massage parlours and bars.
“Others would go for modelling jobs, but when they go for an interview they end up engaging in pornography. The act is very clear on what child pornography is. If it is any kind of pictures being taken or videotaping for sale or being placed on the Internet, that is child pornography. We do have that happening in Trinidad.”
Wheeler said an MOU between the CTU and the Children’s Authority was being developed with respect to Child Victims of Trafficking.
Judiciary frustrating victims
Wheeler admitted, however, that delays in the court process have frustrated some victims.
“What we have found is that there have been some delays in the judicial process and we are hoping that will change. The judicial process has been frustrating our victims. We are trying to see how we can convince the Judiciary to pay special attention to these trafficking matters,” Wheeler said.
In 2014, Wheeler said, the CTU held discussions with the Judiciary to expedite court matters and “a proposal was made to possibly have a separate court that treats with human trafficking cases because of the nature of the cases and also it involves foreign witnesses who are required to travel from their home country to Trinidad to attend court.”
Lengthy adjournments, Wheeler said, frustrated the victims, who might not want to return to testify because of the ordeal they had faced. She said another possibility was video conferencing for witnesses. All human trafficking court hearings are held in camera unless the court otherwise directs. In some cases, Wheeler said, some English-speaking victims who did not have families abroad might opt to stay here while the case was before the court.
“The CTU does a risk assessment of each victim. If the risk is high it is advisable for them to migrate.”
There are currently five victims under the protection of the State, some of whom have been given work permits, attend classes and undertake training.
“These victims are recruited by people they know. It is hardly by strangers. We had one case where the person was recruited by a lover she met on Facebook.”
Wheeler said the victim was invited to an all-expense paid vacation, which lured her.
“She brought a friend with her and they both ended up in sexual exploitation. Human trafficking is about profits and demand and supply. Once there is a demand you would always have people willing to supply,” she said.
“If there is a demand in the country for commercial sex, sex services and sex slaves then certainly there would be people who would supply that need. If there is a demand for cheap labour—a below minimum wage labour—and we do have that in Trinidad, then you would find people willing to supply it for a profit.”
BOX
•Anyone found guilty of trafficking in adults is liable to a fine of $500,000 and 15 years imprisonment.
•Anyone trafficking in children under the age of 18 is liable to a fine of $1,000,000 and 20 years imprisonment.
Tune in to CNC3 News tomorrow at 7 pm for more on human trafficking.