Zwe­na Car­ring­ton

Stu­dent, Hugh Wood­ing Law School

In T&T, hu­man traf­fick­ing is re­ferred to as traf­fick­ing in per­sons.

'Traf­fick­ing in per­sons' and 'traf­fick­ing in chil­dren' are se­ri­ous of­fences pun­ish­able by law. These of­fences are cov­ered by the Traf­fick­ing in Per­sons Act, Chap.12:10 (the Act). This Act seeks to pre­vent traf­fick­ing in per­sons (es­pe­cial­ly women and chil­dren) and pun­ish the of­fend­ers.

What is traf­fickingin per­sons?

Traf­fick­ing in per­sons is the re­cruit­ment, trans­porta­tion, trans­fer, har­bour­ing or re­ceipt of peo­ple by means of the threat, de­cep­tion or ab­duc­tion for the pur­pose of ex­ploita­tion.It is al­so the giv­ing or re­ceiv­ing of pay­ment or ben­e­fits to achieve the con­sent of child's guardian for the pur­pose of ex­ploita­tion'.

Un­der the Act, any­one un­der the age of 18 years is a child.

A vic­tim is any of the fol­low­ing:

�2 An adult or child whom the of­fence of traf­fick­ing in per­sons is com­mit­ted against or whom an of­fence is al­leged to have been com­mit­ted against;

�2 Any­one who has en­tered the coun­try il­le­gal­ly or with­out prop­er doc­u­men­ta­tion and is sub­ject­ed to forced labour for do­mes­tic ser­vices or the re­tail sec­tor;

�2 Any­one who has en­tered the coun­try to work and his pass­port , visa or oth­er trav­el doc­u­ments have been de­stroyed or tak­en by his em­ploy­ers;

�2 Any­one who has no le­gal sta­tus in T&T and is forced to work in broth­els or clubs for the pur­pos­es of pros­ti­tu­tion, pornog­ra­phy and or sex­u­al ex­ploits;

�2 Any­one who has been forced to trans­port il­le­gal items with­in T&T or to an­oth­er coun­try;

�2 Any­one who would rea­son­ably be­lieve that he has no al­ter­na­tive but to sub­mit to the labour or ser­vice de­mand­ed of him ; or

�2 A child who is sub­ject­ed to pros­ti­tu­tion, sex­u­al ex­ploita­tion, child pornog­ra­phy, forced labour or abuse.

Nei­ther the vic­tim's con­sent nor the past sex­u­al con­duct of the vic­tim is a de­fence to the of­fence of traf­fick­ing in per­sons.

Penal­ties

This Act con­tains ex­ten­sive vic­tim pro­tec­tions.

Traf­fick­ing in per­sons, traf­fick­ing in chil­dren and all oth­er re­lat­ed of­fences are in­dictable of­fences.

A per­son found guilty of the of­fence of traf­fick­ing in per­sons or any­one who di­rects an­oth­er per­son to com­mit the of­fence is li­able to a fine of no less than $500,000 and im­pris­on­ment of no less than 15 years.

Ad­di­tion­al­ly, a per­son found guilty of traf­fick­ing in chil­dren or a per­son who as­sists an­oth­er to per­son to traf­fic chil­dren is li­able to a fine of not less than one mil­lion dol­lars and im­pris­on­ment for not less than 20 years.

More­over, a per­son who trans­ports an­oth­er per­son in­to or with­in T&T or across an in­ter­na­tion­al bor­der for the pur­pose of ex­ploit­ing that per­son is li­able to a fine of three hun­dred and fifty thou­sand dol­lars ($350,000) and to im­pris­on­ment for twelve (12) years.

Who can you con­tact?

Any per­son who is a vic­tim of hu­man traf­fick­ing or any mem­ber of the gen­er­al pub­lic who has in­for­ma­tion on vic­tims or of­fend­ers of hu­man traf­fick­ing can con­tact 'Tips for Tips' at 800-4CTU or 800-4288.

This is a toll free hot­line ser­vice of the Counter Traf­fick­ing Unit (CTU) of the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty. Calls can be made by pri­vate num­bers and with­out dis­clos­ing your iden­ti­ty.

This col­umn is not le­gal ad­vice. If you have a le­gal prob­lem, you should con­sult a le­gal ad­vis­er.