BRIDGETOWN – Several Caribbean countries have been named in a new report by the Interpol released on Monday showing that hundreds of suspected victims of modern slavery were rescued in a major crackdown on human traffickers in 13 countries.
According to Interpol, the 350 possible victims of sexual exploitation and forced labour were discovered and 22 people arrested this month in an Interpol-led swoop in countries such as Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Jamaica and Venezuela.
Interpol, the global police organisation, said men, women and children were discovered working in nightclubs, farms, mines, factories and open-air markets, having been lured across borders by traffickers targeting desperate and vulnerable people with promises of a better life, Interpol said.
“What traffickers don’t advertise are the working conditions their victims will be subject to once their final destination is reached,” Cem Kolcu of Interpol said in a statement, adding “during this operation, we identified women being forced to work out of spaces no bigger than coffins, for example”.
According to Interpol, in Guyana, young women were found selling sex next to remote gold mines from which they could not escape, while in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Asians at a factory had been stripped of their passports and freedom, according to Interpol.
“Isolated locations make it difficult for officers to avoid detection,” said Diana O’Brien, Guyana’s assistant director of public prosecutions, explaining that often, by the time they can act on intelligence, traffickers have moved their victims.
The Interpol operation, the culmination of 30 months of preparation, allowed for social services and charities to conduct interviews and provided support to victims.
Traffickers target vulnerable people seeking to cross borders for work or a better life, or even moving from a poorer to a richer region in their own countries. (CMC)
