Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan is urging stakeholders to be prepared for a possible hike in human trafficking activities in the coming years.
“I believe that we are going to have more of this kind of trafficking in humans happening, with an oil and gas industry, that is going to make Guyana probably that richest country in the Americas,” Ramjattan said this morning.
He was at the time speaking at the launch of Standing Operating Procedures for the Investigation and Prosecution of Trafficking in Persons Cases in Guyana.
The SoPs are aimed at strengthening Guyana’s technical capacity to combat TIP and assist victims of human trafficking.
Attorney Diana Shaw, the Jamaican legal consultant who worked on compiling the document, urged stakeholders to adopt the SoPs.
Funded by the US Department of State, the Guyana government worked in collaboration with the International Organisation of Migration to establish the SOPs.
IOM’s Regional Coordinating Officer, Robert Natiello, underscored the need for continued stakeholder cooperation in tackling the scourge of human trafficking.
Members of the various stakeholder agencies are expected to undergo training over the coming weeks to familiarise themselves with the SoPs.
