Human flesh? Well, of course!
The Barbados Nation newspaper reported Monday that police raided the bar in Nelson Street a downtown area frequented by Guyanese and other non-nationals, and discovered the 17 to 21-year-old girls clad only in bathing suits.
According to Barbados Nation online newspaper, Amelia Joseph, 36, of Waterhall Land, Eagle Hall, St Michael and Keenon Chase, 22, of King William Street, Bridgetown, were arrested and charged after investigations by the newly formed Sex Crimes and Trafficking Unit of The Royal Barbados Police Force.
Both are jointly charged for managing a brothel, living on the earnings and receiving some of the victims. Both are Guyanese and were scheduled to appear in court yesterday. Chase will also answer the charge of harbouring five female Guyanese nationals, while Joseph will answer charges of forced labour and confiscation of travel documents of the five women.
On further investigation, it was found that the five women’s passports and documentation were not in their possession. Other evidence uncovered, suggested the women were part of a regional network.
This is the first time Barbadian police have laid that type of charge, but more indictments were likely as Guyanese sources told Kaieteur News that an illegal gun was found in the bar along with a number of forged Guyana passports, used to smuggle the girls into the island.
Human trafficking is a crime in which traffickers profit from the exploitation of individuals lured to places where they can be controlled. Victims are promised a better life and good jobs, but then forced into dangerous, illegal or abusive work.
Barbados was placed on a “Tier 2 Watch List” for a third consecutive year for human trafficking in 2012 by the United States Department of State.
In the department’s 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report on Barbados, it said this island was “a source and destination country for men, women and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour. . . . Evidence suggests there are foreign women forced into prostitution in Barbados. Legal and illegal immigrants from Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Guyana appear to be the most vulnerable to trafficking.”
The report added that prostitution of children was known to exist in Barbados, with a high-risk group being Barbadian and immigrant children engaging in transactional sex with older men for material goods. “In the past, foreigners reportedly have been subjected to forced labour in Barbados, with the highest risk sectors being domestic service, agriculture and construction.
According to a number of Guyanese who did not want to be named, it has long been a thriving business of luring young girls from Guyana into this and other Caribbean islands to work as prostitutes with the promise of large sums of money to be made, and to take back to Guyana.
This flesh trade is said to be spearheaded by Guyanese. One source gave the name of a Guyanese man, along with a woman who are said to be now in Guyana recruiting girls for a trip to Barbados. The woman is also Guyanese and was married to a Barbadian who passed away last year.
Whether the young prospective prostitutes are brought up on their genuine passports or forged travel documents, the credentials are withheld by the traffickers who make the girls virtual slaves as they have no means of returning to Guyana if they so desire.
These hapless persons are fearful of contacting local authorities because they are working illegally. It is not uncommon for the traffickers to be seen beating the girls who dare to question the conditions to which they are subjected. A Guyanese woman spoke of a distant relative who was so badly beaten last month that she had to be hospitalised.
While the local media report highlights the raid as Barbadian police smashing a human smuggling ring, Guyanese sources said this is merely a dent in the trade.
Further, they say that police got wind of the happenings in that bar owing to a falling out among the smugglers – those in Barbados and the two currently on a recruitment drive in Guyana.
