NASSAU, The Bahamas – Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Security met with United States Assistant Attorney Barbara Martinez to discuss ongoing cooperation between both governments relating to counter efforts in the trafficking in persons.
The meetings were held Monday, February 6 to Friday, February 9, the period in which The Bahamas Committee on Trafficking in Persons (TIP Committee) and the United States representative exchanged information and ideas on training and capacity building requirements.
The Bahamas has identified areas of law enforcement and criminal justice. The specific focus of the meetings dealt with how the US Government may assist in meeting The Bahamas’ requirements, so as to ensure that the country can effectively tackle any manifestations of trafficking in persons, a crime under The Bahamas 2008 Trafficking in Persons (Prevention and Suppression) Act.
Following Miss Martinez’s visit, a schedule of training and capacity building initiatives will be proposed for United State Government’s assistance and cooperation.
The activities proposed will have in view, meet The Bahamas’ obligations under the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.
They will also seek to address issues raised in the United States 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report, in which The Bahamas was included in the low, Tier 2 Watch List rank.
Consistent with the Protocol, trafficking in persons is defined in the Act as, “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring of, or receipt of a person by means of threat or use of force or other means of coercion, or by abduction fraud, deception, abuse of power or a position of vulnerability, or the giving or receiving of payment or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purposes of exploitation”.
By Lindsay Thompson
Bahamas Information Services
