Fear of trafficking at Cricket World Cup.

With the approach of the cricket world cup in Barbados in 2007, there are fears that there might be an upsurge in human trafficking in the country. Acting Director of the Bureau of Gender Affairs, John Hollingsworth, said that they were working to raise awareness of the issue, but at present had no research which documented the level of human trafficking which exists in the country. Hollingsworth said;

“We hear of instances that may be reported in the Press, (and) based on the circumstances that may be outlined, we could say that this seems like an incidence of trafficking. But to say an agency of Government or an NGO for that matter is to go out there and actually document cases of trafficking, that does not currently occur in Barbados. So we cannot even say what the numbers are, that we anticipate an increase or even categorically that there is human trafficking in Barbados”

It is extremely important that a clear picture of trafficking in Barbados is established if it is to be effectively combated during the cricket world cup. For more on this and related subjects, please visit The Barbados Advocate by clicking here.