Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter
Public affairs officer for the United States Embassy, Glenn Guimond, addressing the media before the start of the video press conference at the U.S. Embassy yesterday. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE UNITED States has expressed optimism that Jamaica will react favourably to recommendations from a human trafficking report, which painted an unflattering picture of the island.
President George W. Bush, the U.S. State Department said yesterday, is to decide on whether to issue sanctions against Tier 3 countries, including Jamaica, by September 2.
Yesterday, Ambassador John R. Miller, director of the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, claimed the assessment focused not on the scale of trafficking, but on Jamaica's efforts to combat the problem.
Speaking from Washington via a video press conference hosted at the U.S. Embassy's Oxford Road premises, he said the US is currently working on an action plan with the Jamaican government to address the problem.
DOWNGRADED FROM TIER 2
The 2005 Trafficking in Persons Report, published last Friday, covers the period March 2004 to March 2005. Jamaica, it said, could face U.S. sanctions after it was downgraded from last year's assessment of tier two on its human trafficking watch list to the lowest assessment of tier three this year.
Jamaica, said Mr. Miller, has been downgraded for what he called a lack of political will and action by law enforcement officials.
He said the Jamaican government has shown "a failure to follow through on previous commitments".
"Last year we worked out, through our embassy with the government of Jamaica, some specific steps that could be taken and that we expected to be taken and ... these steps were just not taken in the areas of law enforcement and protection," he said.
Mr. Miller noted that trafficking in Jamaica affected many persons under the age of 18, "travelling from rural areas into urban areas ... into tourist centres and into prostitution".
Commenting on the findings of the report this week, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said the assertion that Jamaica had no law to address the abduction of children was "palpably inaccurate".
He disclosed during a meeting with senior journalists on Wednesday that a Cabinet Office group consisting of representatives of the ministries of health, education and foreign affairs; the Attorney-General's Office, immigration authorities and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has been established to act on the findings of the U.S. report.
The group would review the existing law to identify areas where strengthening is needed.
Other initiatives include:
The appointment of a children's advocate shortly;
Special training in human trafficking for members of the Organised Crime Unit of the JCF;
Broadening of the education programme of the Bureau of Women's Affairs.
Sanctions against Tier 3 countries
Under US law, the State Department can impose
sanctions including:
Withholding non-humanitarian, non trade-related assistance;
Withholding funding for education and cultural exchange;
Opposing loans and grants from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (except for humanitarian, trade and certain development-related assistance).
