Bahamas Minister of Social Services and Community Development opens “Human Trafficking Workshop”
NASSAU, The Bahamas – The Bahamas Minister of Social Services and Community Development, Minister Griffin on Thursday (March 9) said while human trafficking might not be a serious problem in The Bahamas at this time, it should nevertheless be closely monitored.
The Minister’s remarks were made at the official opening of a workshop on “Trafficking in Persons” at Workers House on Harold Road.
The workshop was sponsored by the Bureau of Women’s Affairs, the Crisis Centre, the Eugene Dupuch Legal Aide Clinic and the Department of Social Services.
“The workshop on human trafficking is intended to sensitize key agencies of the issue of trafficking in persons and to explore how each of them will be able to support a national response to this problem,” Minister Griffin said.
Also attending the workshop were Mr. Vernon Burrows, Director of Immigration; Dr. Sandra Dean Patterson, director of the Crisis Centre; and Mrs. Phedra Rahming, Bureau of Women’s Affairs.
Mr. Burrows noted that human trafficking refers to transportation of persons for forced labor, sexual exploitation or other illicit activities.
“It is estimated that more than one million people are trafficked annually around the world. Some experts say it could be double that,” he said “Twenty percent of persons in The Bahamas are victims of human trafficking.”
Mr. Burrows said human trafficking has become a global business that generates huge profits for traffickers and organized criminal groups.
Dr. Dean-Patterson said The Bahamas being such a preferable destination for migrants has become a “risk factor.”
“Many people think that slavery no longer exists today but it is still alive and well. There are many persons living among us who are victims of domestic slavery or sexually exploited,” she said.
Dr. Dean-Patterson said victims of human trafficking are lured to the Bahamas in hopes of free medical care, better job opportunities and a better way of life in general.
“Many of those who accept these offers from what appear to be legitimate sources find themselves in situations where their documents are destroyed, their selves or their families threatened with harm, or they are bonded by a debt that they have no chance of repaying,” she said.
“Its covert nature makes human trafficking more likely to remain an increasingly underreported crime,” she added.
