A number of Caribbean countries which are favoured tourist destinations are now the centre of a growing sex tourism industry, an Organization of American States security expert said yesterday, and he also warned about concerns that the Free Movement of Skilled Nationals in Caricom could result in increased human trafficking.
Fernando Garcia-Robles
According to the OAS Coordinator of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Unit in the Department of Public Security, Fernando Garcia-Robles, a 2005 study done by the OAS and the International Organization for Migration revealed that trans-border human trafficking exists in many Caribbean member states and many other countries interconnected with the region are also affected as source, transit or destination countries.
Garcia-Robles, who was at the time addressing a two- day workshop on human trafficking at the Regency Hotel yesterday, said that although mainly a source region, the Caribbean is also becoming a transit point for trafficked women and men en route to Europe, Asia and/or more economically developed countries in the Western Hemisphere.
“Studies in the region have revealed that every year men but particularly women and girls are recruited, transported, marketed and purchased by individual buyers, traffickers and members of the transnational organized crime syndicates, who operate within Caribbean countries with the main purpose of sexually exploiting them,” Garcia-Robles said.
He noted that although quantitative information is not always available from different regions, the Caribbean reflects several trends that might increase its vulnerability to human trafficking.
He further pointed out that the Caribbean is a region of extensive migration, with a rate of movement in relation to population that may be one of the highest in the world.
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