Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

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

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:

Articles 1 (paragraph 1), 2 (paragraph 1), and 25 of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. In its earlier comments, the Committee referred to observations concerning the application of the Convention by Guyana received from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU, now ITUC – International Trade Union Confederation) in 2003 and forwarded to the Government on 13 January 2004, which contained allegations that there was evidence of trafficking for forced prostitution and reports of child prostitution in cities and remote gold mining areas.

The Committee notes the adoption of the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2005, as well as the Government’s indication in the report that 300 volunteers have been trained to identify cases of trafficking. The Committee would appreciate it if the Government would provide information on the following matters:

–      the activities of the task force to develop and implement a national plan for the prevention of trafficking in persons, to which reference is made in section 30 of the above Act, supplying copies of any relevant reports, studies and inquiries, as well as a copy of the National Plan;

–      statistical data on trafficking which is collected and published by the Ministry of Home Affairs in virtue of section 31 of the Act;

–      any legal proceedings which have been instituted as a consequence of the application of section 3(1) of the 2005 Act on penalties, supplying copies of the relevant court decisions and indicating the penalties imposed, as well as the information on measures taken to ensure that this provision is strictly enforced against perpetrators, as required by Article 25 of the Convention.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.