The corrupt practice in our society of trafficking in persons, which has been spotlighted recently mainly because of the report from the U.S. State Department about its prevalence in our country, has prompted much activity in government circles.
Those who are now addressing the problem so strenuously may be doing so from a genuine care and concern for the young people, who are mostly Amerindians coming from the interior. But this phenomenon has been with us for as long as living memory. It may be assumed that, without this report, which threatens some form of sanction unless we take definite steps to improve the situation, those in authority would have continued to turn a blind eye to this exploitation which has destroyed so many lives.
The problem is much more extensive than we can ever succeed in eradicating. Apart from the young women who have been enticed by promises of employment and then gradually trapped into prostitution at places of entertainment, there are countless instances of this sexual exploitation occurring in private homes where they ostensibly are employed as maids. You can then see how difficult it would be to first identify where this is happening and then taking steps to improve the situation.
But the crux of the matter lies not in merely prosecuting the exploiters. One concern that has to be addressed is to consider what happens then to the young people who have been uprooted from their homes, cast into an environment which is alien to them and in which they cannot otherwise function, and who must have developed such an apathy of life itself that they see no future otherwise.
And, even more pertinent to the solution is the question why coast-landers find it so easy to lure young women from their accustomed habitat to strange areas which pose so many problems to them that they find it extremely difficult to move away from the places where they are being exploited.
Those of us who have worked and lived in the interior know that it is simply because the opportunities for employment in these areas are almost non-existent, and this has not changed over the years, while the government has announced ever-increasing economic gains and improvement in the standard of living of the nation as a whole.
If there has been a bigger cake to share among Guyanese, those who have been here before all the other ethnic groups are certainly not reaping any benefits from these. It means that there have either not been enough efforts to create employment in these areas, or that whatever has been attempted has borne little or no fruit.
I entirely disagree with the rationale from some quarters that, because our system is one of free enterprise, citizens are obligated to create their own employment.
This has always been the responsibility of governments, in whatever system it operates. It may probably be the primary function of those who are elected to manage our affairs, to expedite what is necessary so that everyone develops the capacity to produce to his full potential as well and is provided the opportunity to do so profitably for himself and the nation.
I exhort the Guyanese Organisation of Indigenous Peoples, at its upcoming national deliberations, to propose measures by which they can press for more meaningful and extensive efforts by the government to provide opportunities for young people. This would allow them to remain at their respective home locations which they could help develop and minimize the possibility of them being forcibly uprooted to face a future of exploitation and degradation.