Faith-Based Groups Called on to Do More in Fight Against Human Trafficking

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Carol Palmer, is calling on faith-based and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to adopt a more structured and coordinated approach in responding to trafficking in persons.

Mrs. Palmer, who is also Chair of the National Task Force against Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP), said the organisations can give support to Government efforts by providing shelter for victims, helping raise awareness, operating hotlines and referral centres and maintaining vigilance within communities.

She was addressing a church service on Sunday (July 22) at the Providence Methodist Church in St. Andrew to kick-start activities for Trafficking in Persons Week, which runs from July 22 to 28.

“The faith-based community must step forward with the resources that it has at its disposal – financial, material and human – to provide strategic leadership to Jamaica’s national campaign against human trafficking,” Mrs. Palmer said.

She pointed out that NATFATIP is looking for partners who will take the anti-trafficking message “into the nooks and crannies of Jamaica; highways and byways; street corners and living rooms and boardrooms”.

“There can be no stronger partner than an institution that has a building in every corner in the country,” Mrs. Palmer said.

Trafficking in Persons Week is being observed under the theme ‘From Victim to Survivor: The Hard Road to Recovery’. The highlight of the week’s activities will be a Human Trafficking International Conference at the Meliá Braco Village in Trelawny on July 25 and 26.