By Robert A Emmanuel
The US Department of State released its annual Trafficking in Persons Report this week, upgrading Antigua and Barbuda to Tier 2, however the report makes clear that the country still faces challenges in addressing human trafficking.
The 2023 report by the US Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons examines and highlights how governments and a wide range of stakeholders have used partnerships to advance anti-trafficking priorities and goals.
Antigua and Barbuda was downgraded to the Tier 2 watch list in 2022, having previously been a Tier 2 country for many years.
The latest report noted “overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, on its anti-trafficking capacity”.
Areas of improvement cited included investigating more trafficking cases, implementing a new national action plan, and updating victim identification and referral standard operating procedures.
However, the government failed in several key areas such as not starting any prosecutions for the third consecutive year and zero convictions.
The government also did not identify any confirmed victims for the third consecutive year, and the use of standard operating procedures for victim identification and referral remained inconsistent.
Last year, the influx of West Africans aboard charter flights Antigua Airways and Hi Fly was an issue for the government after it was revealed that Antigua was not the final destination for many who were looking for a pathway to the United States.
The issue of human trafficking also occurred in March when several of the Africans died off the coast of St Kitts, apparently en route to the US Virgin Islands.
The surviving migrants, who are being held in St Kitts, have been granted asylum seeker status while their cases are heard.
Additionally, investigations into those who organised the doomed boat are still ongoing, even as it was reported that one apparent crew member Nicholas Areche—an Antiguan and Barbudan citizen – remained at large after escaping from the detention facility where he was being housed with the migrants.
The report references the issue stating “…some of the passengers from West Africa may be vulnerable to trafficking”.
“The government suspended flights from Africa to review passenger vetting protocols and invited international organisations to advise on the government’s strategy to protect passengers newly vulnerable to trafficking,” the report said.
The country profile also said “traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Antigua and Barbuda, and traffickers exploit victims from Antigua and Barbuda abroad… Sex trafficking occurs in bars, taverns, and brothels, including with girls; while these establishments were largely closed during the pandemic, they gradually returned to regular operations.
“Forced labour, including of children, occurs in domestic service and the retail sector, particularly in family-owned businesses.”
The report said that the government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts or to prevent child sex tourism.
The 2023 report also highlighted that the government had started investigations of “12 suspects in 10 cases, including four cases of sex trafficking, four of labour trafficking, one case involving both sex and labour trafficking, and one case of unspecified exploitation”.
The US Human Trafficking Office recommended that the government vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes, convict traffickers, and seek proper penalties, which should involve significant prison terms.
The other recommendations include “reducing delays in court proceedings, consistently implement [standard operating procedures] to proactively identify victims and refer them to care, and train frontline officials in trafficking indicators and the difference between human trafficking and migrant smuggling, and provide trauma-informed training on trafficking for NGOs and service providers to improve their ability to care for potential trafficking victims”.
Meanwhile, Director of the Trafficking in Persons Prevention Unit in Antigua and Barbuda’s Public Safety Ministry, John McKinnon, warned the public that no one is immune from being a victim.
“We are asking the public, first and foremost, to try and educate yourself; when information is put out there, pay attention,” McKinnon said.
He also encouraged persons to report any instance of human trafficking that they encounter, using the anonymous hotline 562-7089.
A Tier 1 country is where the government has made efforts to address the problem and meets the minimum standards outlined in the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol and the United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA).
Tier 2 countries are those whose governments do not fully meet the standard but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance.
A country is only put on the Tier 2 watch list when the government does not take concrete actions to address the significantly increasing estimated number of victims of severe forms of trafficking or where there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year.
A Tier 3 country is where the government does not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards and is not making significant efforts to do so.
