U.S. Report on Barbados Human Trafficking in Persons 2010

Barbados is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and forced labour, according to a report by the U.S Department of State.

Some children in Barbados are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation in "transactional sex" wherein a third party such as a parent receives a benefit from the child's participation in sexual activity.

The report went one to say, Researchers identified patterns of transactional sex within families, most often by adult male caretakers such as step-fathers, as well as child prostitution outside the home.

Women from the Dominican Republic, Guyana, and Jamaica voluntarily enter Barbados as illegal migrants, and some expect to engage in prostitution. Some of these women are exploited in forced prostitution subsequent to their arrival. Some other foreign women who entered the country illegally are exploited in involuntary domestic servitude in private homes.

Foreign men have been transported to Barbados for the purpose of labour exploitation in construction and other sectors.

Sex traffickers, primarily organized criminals from Guyana, form partnerships with pimps and brothel owners from Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, and lure women to Barbados with offers of legitimate work.

Trafficked victims tend to enter the country through legal means, usually by air; traffickers later use force and coercion to obtain and maintain the victims' work in strip clubs, massage parlours, some private residences, and "entertainment clubs" which operate as brothels.

The Government of Barbados, according to the report, does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.

With these efforts the government is accuse of its Law enforcement and immigration officials continued to summarily deport undocumented foreigners without determining whether they are trafficking victims. Therefore, Barbados is placed on *Tier 2 Watch List*. This position is now down from the *Tier 2* the country previously had.

Human Trafficking Tier System

TIER 1

Countries whose governments fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act's (TVPA) minimum standards

TIER 2

Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA's minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards

TIER 2 WATCH LIST (WL)

Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA's minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards

TIER 3

Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so

Recommendations for Barbados

• pass and enact a comprehensive anti-trafficking law
• proactively investigate suspected human trafficking cases
• prosecute and punish trafficking offenders

 

If Barbados which is now rated Tier 2 WL on the U.S. Department of State doesn't clean up the situation on the island. It could face sanctions by the United States.

 

Guyana's government is Outraged and protests that country's human trafficking ranking

The government yesterday denounced the 2010 US State Department Report on Trafficking in Persons, rejecting the findings of a "significant" number of cases there and Guyana's placement on the Tier 2 Watch List for the fourth consecutive year.

Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand said angrily that it was "based on sheer ignorance and eye pass" and labelled it "crap," while Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon suggested that there was something "sinister" in the findings.

St. Vincent Trafficking of People

In 2009 the Department of State found St. Vincent guilty of Human trafficking of individuals and was given a Tier 2 rating.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves had responded, "St. Vincent does not have trafficking of persons," and had said, that the country's placement on the list was greeted there with "utter shock and disdain".

In 2010 St. Vincent has fallen to Tier 2 WL.