Organisation recommends action against trafficking

The National National

THE Government has reported only one case of human trafficking since its inclusion in the Trafficking in Person’s Report (2007), according to the 2021 report by the International Organisation for Migration.
The report said last November, the Government recorded its first trafficking conviction since the enactment of a 2013 law.
The conviction ended a long sex trafficking prosecution case.
The court convicted the accused on six counts of trafficking and one count of rape.
Last December, the court sentenced the trafficker to seven concurrent sentences (one for each count) of 20 years imprisonment.
The trafficker was imprisoned at the end of the reporting period.
Another arrest and charging of an alleged trafficker in connection with the same case as pending at the end of the reporting period.
The report said a lack of knowledge in handling and treating cases of human trafficking by authorities contributed to the lack of investigations and arrests.
The Government did not report any new trafficking investigations nor any prosecution.
The International Organisation for Migration report recommends to the Government to:

  • IMPROVE procedures for victim identification, referral and protection and training of police, immigration and customs enforcement officers;
  • INVESTIGATE and prosecute trafficking offences and sentence convicted traffickers to significant prison terms; and,
  • AMEND the criminal code to criminalise child sex trafficking without elements of force, fraud or coercion among other recommendations.