Counter-trafficking Unit has no head

WHILE the Prime Minister is slamming the US for TT’s Tier 2 grade in the 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report against TT, the Counter-trafficking Unit (CTU) remains without a director.

Speaking with Sunday Newsday yesterday, former director Alana Wheeler said the position had been vacant for the past two months. On the CTU’s Facebook page the Tier 2 rating given to TT is the third consecutive. “For the 3rd consecutive year, TT maintains Tier 2 Ranking in the US DOS Annual (TiPs) Report 2019. The 2019 report assessment was for the period April 2018 to March 2019. Keep up the great work CTU, and all stakeholders!!!” the post read.

Wheeler said the position was advertised internally since February while her contract was still valid and advertised externally two months later. She said the National Security Ministry conducted interviews a week ago but there have been some delays in the process. She confirmed that she was interviewed for the position in the hope of regaining her title. She added that since her contract ended, no one had been acting in the position. National Security Minister Stuart Young was asked how soon the position would be filled and he said: “I have been requesting that the position be filled and I have been informed by the permanent secretary (Vel Lewis) that the interviews and evaluation should be completed shortly.”

Young did not respond when asked for a time frame for the completion of the interviews and evaluations. Calls and messages to Lewis were not answered.

According to a US State Department report, TT remains a Tier 2 country as it did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas and had not yet secured any convictions under its 2011 anti-trafficking law. A Tier 2 country is one whose government does not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act minimum standards. The report, however, said TT was making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with those standards.

At the opening of phase 1 of the Chaguanas Traffic alleviation project, Narsaloo Ramaya Marg Road, Chaguanas, on Friday, Rowley asked what was needed for an “A” grade. “We get an F. Well God alone knows what we have to do to get an A, maybe we will have to put a placard in the middle of Caracas saying come to TT, land of milk and honey, we will take care of all of you in TT to get an A. Maybe if we had converted our little country, our little paradise, into a refugee camp, as we are being encouraged to do for a few dollars more we might have gotten a grade higher than an F.”

In a media release on Friday, the National Security Ministry said the Government was working assiduously to counter human trafficking in this country. The release stated that they are cognizant of the recommendations made in the report. The CTU, the Ministry added, continues to work with partnering agencies, NGOs and civil society to increase public awareness on this crime and to reduce incidents of Trafficking in Persons in Trinidad and Tobago.

Some of the measures highlighted by the report are; increased anti-trafficking training for public officials; initiating more prosecutions and establishing a new intelligence task force to improve investigations.