Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Guyana (Ratification: 1966)

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. 1. Trafficking in persons. The Committee noted the adoption of the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act in 2005, as well as the Government’s indication that 300 volunteers had been trained to identify cases of trafficking.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement, in its report, that a Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons, made up of sixteen agencies, has been established. It notes that a specialized unit to deal with trafficking in persons has also been established. According to the Government’s statistics, respectively 32 and ten persons were charged with trafficking in persons in 2016 and 2017, and two and three were convicted. The Government indicates that while there is a low conviction rate, the Task Force continues its work relentlessly.

The Committee notes that, according to the Department of Public Information website, a National Plan of Action for the Prevention and Response to Trafficking in Persons for the period 2017–18, focusing on prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership, has been launched in January 2017. It further notes that the new Action Plan provides a victim-centred and rights-based approach in assisting, protecting and reintegrating trafficking victims into society. The Committee observes that, in its report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women of 2018, the Government indicates that it has undertaken awareness and training programmes, including guidelines for interviewing victims, training programmes for police forces and public awareness campaigns on trafficking in persons (CEDAW/C/GUY/9, paragraphs 51 and 52). The Committee encourages the Government to pursue its efforts to ensure that investigations and prosecutions are carried out against perpetrators of trafficking in persons. It requests the Government to continue providing information on the application in practice of the 2005 Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act, including the number of investigations, prosecutions, and penalties imposed. The Committee further requests the Government to provide information regarding the implementation of the National Plan of Action for the Prevention and Response to Trafficking in Persons 2017–18, indicating the results achieved in this regard.

2. Vulnerable situation of migrant workers with regard to the exaction of forced labour. The Committee observes that the United Nations Committee on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW), in its concluding observations of 2018, noted that, as a country of origin, destination and transit for migrant workers and despite the increasing number of migrants entering the State party, particularly from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a migration policy and strategy is lacking. The CMW expressed concern at reports of exploitation of migrant workers, including domestic servitude, forced child labour and commercial sexual exploitation, and at the lack of information on measures to combat such abuses (CMW/C/GUY/CO/1, paragraphs 12 and 32). The Committee therefore requests the Government to strengthen the measures to ensure that migrant workers, including migrant domestic workers, are fully protected from abusive practices and conditions that amount to forced labour and to provide information in the regard.