Nagra Plunkett, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
CHIDING JAMAICANS for not taking the issue of human trafficking seriously, Senator A.J. Nicholson, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, says the problem is real and that it should "shock our consciences."
"We have (had) to be strategising, setting up a task force and to be bringing persons from all over the world to deal with an issue which (we) should not have to if persons had taken their responsibilities seriously in the beginning," the Justice Minister said. "This human trafficking problem is something that should shock our consciences."
He was addressing participants at Wednesday's National Task Force Against Human Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP) exposition in Montego Bay, St. James.
Mr. Nicholson argued that, although many persons have questioned whether human trafficking exists in Jamaica, he could point to Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) data which prove that many persons on the island make their living from the practice.
"The JCF can tell you that it go so. There are persons in Jamaica, men and women, who make a living out of this thing. It is not a one-off thing for some persons," he said. "This fact should make us stop and wonder what it is that has gone so horribly wrong in our country."
Suggesting that weak families and poorly-brought up children are most susceptible to this crime, Mr. Nicholson called on the Church to play a greater advocacy role to stem the problem.
"I believe that this is one of the issues that the church can take onto itself, grab it and run with it. Whilst it is true that slavery and trafficking in persons is not one and the same thing, we know that it was the church's advocacy why slavery was abolished,? he said.
The Justice Minister said trafficking in persons was one of the greatest examples of "man's inhumanity to man" through its use of the vulnerable for personal gain.
According to an unclassified fact sheet from the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Centre, released in April this year, trafficking in persons is one of the fastest growing international criminal activities and involves the exploitation of people through force, coercion, threat and deception.
According to the United States government, between 600,000 and 800,000 persons are trafficked globally each year and 14,500 to 17,500 are trafficked to the United States. Women and children comprise the largest group.
Last year Jamaica was among 14 countries given a tier-three ranking in the U.S. State Department's report on human trafficking, the lowest on the three-tier ranking system. The June report had stated that the Jamaican Government lacked the political will to tackle the problem of human trafficking and that it had made no significant efforts to combat the problem.
