Jamaica Government ready to tackle the human trafficking incidents

The authorities in Jamaica are urging the citizens to report every suspected incident of human trafficking.

Sub Officer in charge of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Vice Squad from Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Detective Inspector Kemisha Gordon, said that the local law-enforcement stakeholders have been experiencing many challenges for finding the suspects of human trafficking as the citizens are not voluntarily reporting about any suspected incidents of trafficking.

The officer said, “That is not surprising, as the nature of human trafficking is such that it continues to evolve, and it is not something that is easily identified. But the basic knowledge of human trafficking leads persons to believe that certain things are acceptable and because of this, they do not report.”

The government had shared the email address  tip.ocid@jcf.gov.jm and the contact number 876-906-49 of the Ministry of National Security and can call the child counsellors at Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA). If someone suspects an incident of trafficking or become the victim of such a case, they can contact on the given details.

Inspector Gordon said that they find some difficulty in pointing any human trafficker as they don’t have any specific profile. They don’t use similar methods for carrying out the trafficking. She advised that JCF and its stakeholders have been continuously changing their strategies to slow down or eradicate the problem of human trafficking, whether in local areas or internationally.

Inspector Gordon stated, “We continually must be examining our approaches, the trends, the approaches of the traffickers. With COVID-19, traffickers worldwide have taken to the Internet to conduct their recruitment and exploitation activities in relation to child pornography and other types of trafficking. So, we must be on par and up to date with what is happening out there.”

According to the details, The National Task Force Against Trafficking was established in June 2005. It was a multi-agency program to improve national capacity and develop and implement Jamaica’s legislative, institutional, and operational responsibility for combatting human trafficking.