Free online course to increase fight against human trafficking
Published:Monday | January 13, 2025 | 12:07 AM
A free online course to increase public education and heighten awareness among Jamaicans about human trafficking and how to combat it locally was launched Friday at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.
During the launch, national rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, Diahann Gordon Harrison, pointed out that one of the most aggressive forms of organised crime globally is trafficking in persons.
She said the scourge generates some US$150 billion in profits that the players amass and enrich themselves.
“This particular launch is really geared towards building the awareness and sensitising Jamaicans of all walks of life that this thing is real, but more importantly what it looks like in the Jamaican context,” she added.
Gordon-Harrison, who is also Jamaica’s Children’s Advocate, said the trafficking in persons course will speak to situations that “we hear about in our neighbourhood and those situations that sometimes we see every day and have no idea it is human trafficking hidden in plain sight before our very eyes”.
Share the knowledge
Participants of the course were encouraged to share the knowledge with their various networks and help to build the capacity of all Jamaicans “so that they too can recognise the threats that walks among us, that breathes among us, and know how to combat it in our own way without being a martyr and without compromising their security”.
Human trafficking involves the exploitation of persons through forced labour, fraud, coercion and the commercial sex trade.
During a recent human rights expo in Montego Bay, St James, the coordinator of the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons Audrey Budhai said there was no particular profile to easily identify human traffickers, adding that in some instances persons involved in the crime are relatives of their victims.
Julieth Cuthbert Flynn, state minister for national security, who made a presentation on behalf of portfolio minister Dr Horace Chang, said every Jamaican should be able to identify human trafficking to not only avoid being trafficked, but to recognise when others are facing, such a threat so that they can report it to the relevant authorities.
“We have seen significant strides in preventing trafficking, protecting victims and prosecuting offenders, and I want to reassure you that we’re committed to further tackling elements like this that pose a threat to the people of Jamaica,” she said.
The state minister argued that trafficking is a complex issue that requires a multifaceted approach. She also urged Jamaicans to join forces to combat the crime in order to protect members of the society and build a safer, more just society for all.