Sir Roy Trotman has warned that forced labour, including human trafficking, is a rising and worrying threat that Barbados could ill afford to ignore.
And according to the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) general secretary, for some time efforts had been made at the level of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to implement measures by way of Convention 29 to protect workers from being exploited by employers.
Sir Roy outlined his concerns yesterday at the union’s annual service of thanksgiving at Solidarity House before an audience that included Governor General Sir Elliott Belgrave, Minister of Labour Esther Byer-Suckoo, president of Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados, Cedric Murrell, and featured speaker Reverend David Holder of the Church of the Nazarene.
The union boss said it was unfortunate that when one was dealing with this subject in the international forum, there were bound to be some governments that would never support the fight against human trafficking.
Globalization and trade liberalization had resulted in a significant rise in human trafficking since the labour market had been markedly deregulated, he said.
Sir Roy said that migrant workers were special targets for “greedy, rapacious persons” who exploited people in the region and here at home.
His comments come in the wake of charges being brought against three people, including a 76-year-old woman, for the trafficking of five Guyanese girls aged between 17 and 21.
