Guyana’s Judiciary cited by US State Dept for sloth in trafficking, other major criminal trials

…country retains Tier 1 status in TIP report despite fewer victims referred for care

This comment was made in the State Department’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report, which was released on Thursday. The report assesses Government efforts around the world to combat human trafficking.

Guyana once again secured a Tier One ranking in this latest TIP report. This, according to the State Department, was as a result of the Government’s continued demonstration of serious and sustained efforts to combat human trafficking, including prosecuting alleged traffickers, detaining one trafficker convicted in absentia during the previous reporting period, conducting training for officials on victim identification and trauma-informed approaches, and opening a transition home for victims.

It was noted that in 2025, the Guyana Government reported 16 investigations were initiated: eight for sex trafficking, seven for forced labour, and one for an unspecified form of trafficking. They also prosecuted four suspects – two for sex trafficking and two for forced labour – and convicted one trafficker for sex trafficking, who was sentenced to at least 48 months’ imprisonment. This is compared with investigating 31 cases, prosecuting three suspects, and convicting one trafficker in 2024.

The reported highlighted one case where a suspected trafficker was charged with labour trafficking, but the Government settled the case rather than pursuing a criminal conviction. The defendant was ordered to pay the victim for unpaid wages, as well as their transportation to their home country.

But even as the State Department commended the Government on the updated Combating Trafficking of Persons Act of 2023, criminalised sex trafficking and labour trafficking with stringent penalties such as five years to life imprisonment, it similarly bemoaned the prolonged length of time the local judiciary takes to finish a case.

“The judicial process remained slow, with trafficking and other major criminal trials taking an average of two years and up to four years to complete because of shortages of trained court personnel, postponements at the request of the defence or prosecution, and delays in preparing cases for trial,” the report stated.

Identify victims

Nevertheless, the State Department went on to laud the Guyana Government for the continued conduct of anti-trafficking training for law enforcement officials, including Police, Judges, immigration officers, and other key officials on identifying trafficking indicators, victim-centred and trauma-informed approaches to investigations and prosecutions, victim protection, interviewing techniques, and evidence handling.

Additionally, it was reported that Guyana identified 390 victims in 2025, including 296 women and eight girls who were exploited in sex trafficking, 85 adult males in forced labour, and one boy who was exploited in an unspecified form of trafficking, compared to 416 victims in 2024.

The victims included 15 Guyanese nationals and 375 foreign nationals from Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, India, and Colombia. Of these, 25 victims were referred for care.

According to the State Department, Guyanese officials did not always screen sufficiently for trafficking indicators among certain at-risk populations, including Chinese workers.

“Observers noted the Government did not vet for trafficking risks in its agreements with the Chinese Government for projects through the Belt and Road Initiative… For example, despite reporting it screened Chinese national workers upon their arrival and inspected worksites of Chinese workers, the Government did not report identifying any trafficking victims among this at-risk population… Chinese nationals working on Chinese state-affiliated projects through the Belt and Road Initiative as well as mining sites owned by China-based companies, face conditions indicative of forced labour,” the report noted.

Another at-risk population highlighted was the Cuban workers in Guyana. The State Department noted the bilateral health cooperation agreement between Guyana and the Cuban Government ended earlier this year. In 2025, there were 370 Cuban regime-affiliated workers in Guyana, and 110 of them took up the Guyanese Government offer to stay and work here after the arrangement ended.

However, the State Department says that the Guyana Government did not consistently ensure workers who remained in the country received their wages from the Cuban regime.

In the same vein, the report pointed to the lack of effort to effectively regulate labour recruiters and hold them civilly as well as criminally liable for fraudulent recruitment. It outlined that while the Government had undertaken a review of the legislation for four years, it did not finalise any updates to the laws.

“The Recruitment of Workers Act and the Employment Exchanges Act provided the legislative framework for labour recruitment, but the Government did not have any laws prohibiting employers, recruiters, or labour agents from charging workers recruitment fees, switching contracts without the workers’ consent, or withholding wages as a means of keeping workers in a state of compelled service, despite an influx of in-country recruitment agencies targeting workers for the country’s burgeoning oil sector,” it stated.

Decrease protection efforts

Meanwhile, the State Department also noted that while Guyana has met the minimum standards when it comes to its TIP standards, there was decreased funding for protection and prevention efforts.

In 2025, the Government allocated $116.9 million for victim services directly and to NGO shelters, a decrease compared with $132.6 million earmarked in 2024.

Previously, the Government operated and fully funded four shelters for adults and one shelter for children, and in July 2025, it completed construction of a 30-person transition home. However, NGOs have reported the Government closed some shelters in 2025, possibly resulting in the re-victimisation of some victims.

Similarly, the report highlighted that while the Government increased overall efforts to prevent trafficking, allocations to these efforts were significantly reduced from $169.5 million in 2024 to $83,250,204 last year.

Nevertheless, the State Department says that the Government conducted public awareness activities targeting vulnerable populations in regions with particular risks, including hotel operators, miners, leaders of indigenous communities, policing groups, private security firms, and schools.

Additionally, three anti-trafficking hotlines are operated to assist potential trafficking victims, including two for English speakers and one for Spanish speakers, which recorded 15 reports of alleged human trafficking during the reporting period. While noting that cell phone coverage in many mining areas was poor, thus limiting the efficacy of the hotline among communities vulnerable to trafficking, the introduction of a QR code system in July 2025 made reporting human trafficking easier for the public.

According to the State Department, human trafficking occurs primarily in interior and remote regions, with some cases in urban locations across Guyana. Traffickers exploit victims in forced labour in mining, agriculture, forestry, construction, domestic service, and in shops with migrants, women, and young people from rural and minority communities, as well as children, among the most at risk for human trafficking.