The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunmedia.net

THE US State Department released its global report on human trafficking yesterday, saying the Bahamas “fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.”

The report said migrant workers from Haiti, Jamaica, Colombia and Venezuela are among the vulnerable populations, and although they arrive voluntarily to this country, they could be “recruited or deceived by traffickers who lure” them with “fraudulent recruitment practices, such as false promises of employment”.

Along with people involved in prostitution and exotic dancing, the report said stateless children who are born in the country to foreign parents but do not automatically receive citizenship, are also vulnerable.

“Traffickers confiscate victims’ passports and restrict their movements,” the report says.

Nonetheless, the State Department noted that five people in the last year have been arrested and prosecuted as alleged traffickers.

“During the reporting period,” the State Department said, “the government screened 49 potential trafficking victims – 41 adult females and seven adult males – and one potential child victim. Authorities identified three sex trafficking victims – all foreign nationals, one child and two adults – and referred them for appropriate care and assistance, including housing and medical, psychological, legal, immigration, and reintegration assistance.”

The cost of trafficking victims’ care was $42,000.

The State Department recommended that the Bahamas increase its efforts to “prosecute, convict and appropriately punish traffickers.”

It recommended that the Bahamas “use independent interpreters when conducting inspections of migrant worker labour sites, and continue to interview workers privately.”

It also recommended that the country “continue to implement a nationwide public awareness campaign to educate the public and officials about human trafficking and its manifestations in the Bahamas, including the distinction between trafficking and smuggling.”

Regarding laws mandating punishment for those convicted of involvement in human trafficking, the State Department said: “These penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape.”

Such penalties range from three years’ to life imprisonment.