[www.inewsguyana.com] – The Guyana Police Force (GPF) is debunking reports from President of the Guyana Women Miners Association (GWMO), Simona Broomes that it is not doing enough to tackle Trafficking In Persons (TIP) in Guyana’s interior regions.
In a Kaieteur News report on Monday February 09, Broomes is quoted as saying that “most police ranks operating in remote locations are those that have been involved in something or the other that is not in keeping with the lawful expectations of a cop.”
However, the police said that this statement is “totally untrue.”
The release said that the policy of the Police Force to handle with ranks who have committed breaches of discipline and are allowed to continue employment in the Force is to transfer them to locations where they could be properly supervised and therefore during 2014 no such person was transferred to remote areas.
The police however made it clear that that the level of supervision in the interior is not the same as on the coastland, however this deficiency was attributed to challenges with “transportation and communication.”
But the GWMO President in a swift response to the police said she is standing by her statement.
“I wish to unequivocally state that I stand by my statement published in the Kaieteur News yesterday- that many of the ranks posted to interior locations are those who would have committed infractions and are posted as a form of punishment,” said Broomes.
She related that only last week GWMO members returned from Mahdia where several complaints were made and another officer was named as orchestrating some of the abuses being meted out to women and girls.
“We are aware that once a child is sexually active under the age of 16 it is rape however, it does not seem the case in Mahdia as police officers are aware of numerous girls-some as young as 12-who are being used as sex workers and no one is being arrested” she said in the release.
She made it clear that all her information gathered and reported in the press is done by GWMO members in the fields. According to Broomes, the training of police officers to prevent and tackle trafficking in persons “grossly lacking.”
“My organization is representing civil society and we are not in the business of lying more so on the police force with whom we have been attempting to build a relationship for the past three years…while the force accuses me of lying it is this very organisation that had issued a public press release stating that they have evidence and a witness confirming that I had assaulted then human trafficking accused Ann Marie Carter. However, even with all the evidence and witness no charges were ever laid. I ask who has a history of lying,” said the GWMO President.
