MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica – Jamaica’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Senator A.J. Nicholson, has said that Jamaica must address the scourge of human trafficking, if the country was to achieve true development.
If we are not able to stem this scourge of human trafficking, if we are not able to get this out of our societal arrangement, the decay is going to set in and we will not be able to reach and achieve the kind of potential that we know Jamaica is capable of,” he stated, as he addressed a forum on human trafficking on Wednesday, May 31 at the West Jamaica Conference Centre in Montego Bay.
Trafficking in persons involves the recruitment, transportation, harboring and sale of human beings for the purpose of exploiting them, and has become a matter of concern in Jamaica.
Senator Nicholson noted that parents had a critical role to play in nurturing and protecting their children, who remained most at risk of being exploited. “It is true that we must focus on the schools. but we have to start a little earlier than the schools; we have to bring the parents to book in our Ministry, we are looking at how parents, who neglect their children and their proper upbringing, how they can be brought to book”, he informed.
The Attorney General encouraged the church to “grab the issue of human trafficking and run with it” noting that, “anytime the church puts its shoulder to any issue, usually the church wins”.
Senator Nicholson noted that the forum, which was organized by the Cabinet Office through the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP), was a step in the right direction, as it served to highlight “the illegal and criminal activity committed against vulnerable human beings”.
The forum served to educate and enlighten citizens in western Jamaica about human trafficking, which is considered a type of modern day slavery and a violation of human rights.
Hundreds of students and citizens attended the event, which featured displays by the St. James Health Department’s HIV/AIDS Program, the Narcotics Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, and Woman Inc., among others.
