By Damion Mitchell, Staff ReporterTHE UNITED States Government could withhold non-humanitarian or non-trade-related assistance from Jamaica if the island's current tier two ranking for efforts against 'trafficking in persons' worsens next year.
It was reported last week that the United States was displeased with Jamaica's efforts to address trafficking in persons, placing the island on a tier two watch-list which is just one rank from the lowest tier.
This, according to the U.S., indicates that the government has not fully complied with what the US describes as minimum standards against trafficking in persons defined internationally, as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud or deception or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person."
However, participants at a seminar at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel yesterday slammed the U.S. for its assessment of Jamaica's ranking. The seminar was organised by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in partnership with the Inter-American Commis-sion of Women within the Organ-isation of American States and the Bureau of Women's Affairs.
SANCTIONS
"We do have aspects of trafficking in our country and we need to deal with these issues but I cannot react very positively to the fact that we might be slapped with sanctions," said Dr. Glenda Simms, the executive director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs.
Betty Ann Blaine, founder of Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU), also said she was disappointed with the U.S. assessment. "We know that the culprit (of trafficking in persons) is poverty and this is why I am a little disappointed," she said, noting that Jamaica's economic status would be exploited if it is placed into a situation where it could be sanctioned. She further noted that there was an urgent need for government funding to be made available to undertake public education against trafficking in persons.
Earlier, Dr. Paul Robertson, Minister of Development, had told the seminar that the government was "actively" evaluating and investigating some of the publicised instances of internal trafficking of under-aged girls and that it was making sure to close all loopholes allowing women and girls from other countries to participate in illegal activities whether the drug or sex trades.
In the meantime Ashely Garrett, project manager of the IOM based in the United States, has opted to reserve comments on whether her organisation endorses the US assessment of Jamaica. "We do not make statements as to how the US makes assessments," she told The Gleaner.
