GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC :

Guyana has once again dismissed a United States report critical of the country's efforts on human trafficking to combat trafficking in persons.

A government appointed Ministerial Task Force established to tackle human trafficking here said that the US State Department's assessment in its 2012 report is 'a difficult pill to swallow' and that Washington failed to establish a single fact.

“The Task Force notes several inaccuracies and misrepresentations in the Report that must be addressed. What is clear is that the architects of this Report have not made significant progress in improving the veracity, coherence and validity of their annual assessments” it said, noting that the report comprises unsubstantiated generalisations and repetitive uncorroborated claims.

“The Task Force strongly recommends that the US State Department seek to improve its methodology, establish proper baselines to guide comparisons, avoid use of anecdotal claims and develop a consistent, understandable, transparent and logical tier ranking system if countries are to benefit from these rituals.

“The plethora of uncorroborated claims made in the Report can only result in a distorted view of the Guyanese reality as regards the national trafficking in persons' situation” the statement said. Guyana said it considered the report “an affront” to its members, frontline government staff and over 100 citizens who have been trained to identify and report trafficking in persons and have been doing so along with several non-government organisations.