AJ raps Jamaicans on human trafficking
June 02, 2006
CHIDING JAMAICANS for not taking the issue of human trafficking seriously, Senator A.J. Nicholson, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, says the problem is real and that it should "shock our consciences."
"We have (had) to be strategising, setting up a task force and to be bringing persons from all over the world to deal with an issue which (we) should not have to if persons had taken their responsibilities seriously in the beginning," the Justice Minister said. "This human trafficking problem is something that should shock our consciences."
He was addressing participants at Wednesday's National Task Force Against Human Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP) exposition in Montego Bay, St. James.
Mr. Nicholson argued that, although many persons have questioned whether human trafficking exists in Jamaica, he could point to Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) data which prove that many persons on the island make their living from the practice.
"The JCF can tell you that it go so. There are persons in Jamaica, men and women, who make a living out of this thing. It is not a one-off thing for some persons," he said. "This fact should make us stop and wonder what it is that has gone so horribly wrong in our country."
Suggesting that weak families and poorly-brought up children are most susceptible to this crime, Mr. Nicholson called on the Church to play a greater advocacy role to stem the problem.
"I believe that this is one of the issues that the church can take onto itself, grab it and run with it. Whilst it is true that slavery and trafficking in persons is not one and the same thing, we know that it was the church's advocacy why slavery was abolished,? he said.
The Justice Minister said trafficking in persons was one of the greatest examples of "man's inhumanity to man" through its use of the vulnerable for personal gain....
Author: Nagra Plunkett
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
