 Warm greetings, everyone, and welcome to the launch of the Counter-Trafficking Public Awareness Campaign along with the launch of the Trafficking in Persons Hotline 847 or TIP. I am your Director of Proceedings, Claudia Monluy. Shall we stand for the National Anthem? Please remain standing for prayers, which will be led by Mrs. Jules, let us pray. This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for life. We ask for divine action to function in your vineyard as we pray that all our thoughts, all our words, all our actions will give you all the glory. We place this launch under the subjection of the Holy Spirit right now, and we pray for your Holy Spirit and your continuous guidance, O God, to guide us as we continue to perform in this place, to always perform your will in this land, in Jesus' name. Please sit. Thank you, Mrs. Yolanda Jules-Louis, member of the National Task Force. Minister for Home Affairs, Justice and National Security, Senator the Honourable Herman Guild Francis, Permanent Secretary, Department of Housing, and former PS of the Department of Home Affairs and National Security. Notably, he is also the former chairperson of the National Task Force for the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons, Mr. Augusta de Gazor, Permanent Secretary in the Department of Justice, Mrs. Mora Felix, Assistant Commissioner of Police with Responsibility for Crime and Intelligence, Mr. Wayne Shalry, Director of Implementation in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mrs. Nancy Charles, Director of the St. Lucia Forensic Science Services, Mrs. Miss Fernanda Henry, Deputy Director Forensic Science Services, Mr. Berkeley Joseph, Deputy Director of the Borderly Correctional Facility. Hopefully, you will join us. Later, Mr. Terrence Leonard, rank and file of the Royal St. Lucia Police Force, distinguished members of the National Task Force for the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons, Principal Information Officer of the Government Information Service and the GIS team, former participants of the Counter-Trafficking Workshops, non-governmental organizations, consultant to the campaign, Mr. Dale Elliott, the talent used for the campaign, the media, representatives of the hard-working team of the independent film company, ladies and gentlemen, our viewers on this live broadcast, also streaming on the government Facebook page. Good morning and welcome. As assistant focal point, I would like you to indulge me as I attempt to contextualize what is happening this morning and I would like to indicate to you that the permanent secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth Bailey, is out of state and unavoidably so, but she has sent her sincerest best wishes for a very successful launch today. She is the chair of the Task Force and I know that her sentiments and thoughts are definitely with us at this time. As you will come to know, our slogan for this public awareness campaign is entitled, Know It, See It, Report It. This campaign has come about as a result of a request made by the Department of Home Affairs and National Security who wrote to the International Organization for Migration, IOM, for technical assistance under the government. And as you know, St. Lucia is a member of the IOM from 2015. St. Lucia's request for technical assistance was led by the former permanent secretary within the Department of Home Affairs, Mr. Costa de Gaza, chairperson at the time for the Task Force. I want to say hats off to everyone who were on board at the time for all of your dedication and hard work. Be that as it may, persistence is definitely rewarding us today. After the IOM approved the technical assistance to help St. Lucia develop the standards required to be compliant with the organizations, they immediately engaged the subsidiary International Development Fund, IDF, and the board started rolling from November 2017. Hence, you will notice that we have a billboard out in the lobby area, which indicates the date November 2017 when we began our initial training workshop. The capacity building component of the technical assistance formed the initial phase of the project and was unfold, of course, in November 2017, with the help of the ACPEU migration. Since then, we have not looked back. That phase included the training of our key stakeholders within the public service of St. Lucia as well as civil society organizations. To name a few, we've trained health providers, diplomats, Boys Training Center, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, NYC, Red Cross, IC Center, United and Strong, educators across the board, SLASPA and immigration personnel. We've even extended our outreach to the taxi association and we were happy that we were able to get a member of the Southern Taxi Association. And after engaging in one of our sessions, he felt that he had actually been trafficked. So that was a significant experience for him. And these are some of the eye-opening experiences persons have when they come into contact with the knowledge we have to share about counter-trafficking. The police you will hear from later on in the program also undertook training of stakeholders and we are grateful for the efforts on the Interpol mandate. And so, at this point, I just want to indicate to you that our attempt today is to send an unequivocal message that we are serious and determined to stamp out human trafficking in any form on the island. On that note, I refer to the program where we have messages of solidarity. I would like to convey an excuse for the resident British Commissioner, Mr. Steve McCready, who is unavoidably engaged at this time. He may join us later, but I would like to call on Ms. Felicia Brown, who is here with us today. She is a gender justice adviser and human rights advocate and she is going to share a few words of solidarity with us. Brand of applause please. Good morning. Acknowledgement of all protocols based and established. I was actually wasn't awaiting the applause, but thank you. Today marks a very significant development for human rights in St. Lucia. As a development status critical that we as a society continue to place greater emphasis on the protection of all citizens, including citizens that are persons entering our shores. Human trafficking is rapidly evolving and we've seen that based upon our research. We're also seeing that the use of technology is providing a lot more easy way for our potential as well as our perpetrators. So it's very important that we invest, our government invests in a lot in terms of our national security in those areas. And again, when we think about the research that has been done, it's very important that we spend some time in the research as well. So what we're seeing is that human trafficking will adversely place some kinds of hindrances for our economic and our social development as well. I would like to applaud our government, this administration in this effort, not only in the implementations of mechanisms to protect victims, but also in terms of the training of the various sectors. We're very pleased to know that not only the private sector, the public sector as well, and also the CSOs, it's very important that advocacy plays a very important place in our development, not also to advocate for the rights of citizens, but also to ensure that when we think about human trafficking, it's a human rights issue. It will affect us not politically, but also economically. And what we need to do as a society is to continuously to advocate and to ensure that the public is aware what human trafficking looks like. A lot of persons have heard the term human trafficking, but they do not understand what the victim looks like, what the perpetrator may look like. And many times we assume that persons within the society may be aware that, you know, this is what a perpetrator may look like, this is what a victim may look like. And as we're seeing, it's not only adults, we're looking at child trafficking as well. And this in itself is evolving within the Caribbean nations. And we're seeing at small island states, we have to protect our borders, we have to protect our citizens, and we have to do everything in our powers to protect the persons that come to our shores. So one of the things I'd like to do is to urge our government to continue to invest in the various sectors, again, to provide the kinds of education. Again, public education is very important. But also, I would leave you with very two terms for our administration and the persons that are now working in the field. The protection of victims is very important. We have to ensure that we do have the mechanisms in place so that they become rehabilitated, we can give them the services counseling, whatever that is necessary for them. And also, we're also looking to see if that government can provide some kind of social protection for them as well, because some of them may be here without any kind of social protection in that sense. So we're looking for that. And the prosecution of the perpetrators. Many times, are we seeing in the Caribbean, we're seeing that we're most times, we may know what the victims look like. In some instances, victims are actually persecuted in some cases, and we're looking in as much as that to look at it as a human rights issue. But the prosecution of perpetrators is very important for us as advocates, and as well as academics, because we want to ensure that when persons commit those human right violations, that they know that if you attempt to do that in Saint Lucia, we have mechanisms in place. And we will enforce those mechanisms. And so we appeal in for governments to ensure that not only that we give them a fine, but also that there's also a jail sentence to them as well. And as much as possible, we're seeing how that will work across the Caribbean region. And again, so I would again, applaud the government for what they've been doing. We've seen a lot of training that has been happening. And the most important part, what we're doing to this milestone is very important, the education of the public, because those victims will be interacting with the public. They will be going to the supermarkets, they will be going to the hospitals. So we have to equip persons that they are aware of the signs. They can identify who the victims are. And they can also identify who the perpetrators are. So as we leave with the logo, know the signs, educate persons, allow them to know what the different facets of human trafficking is, see it, acknowledge it, but also report it. And so we appeal into the police as well so that persons are able to come in. And they are, and I'm aware that there are mechanisms in place for that, so that the general public is aware that this is a growing concern. It's very problematic for human rights and persons within the field as well. And so that persons will be very much knowledgeable of what they can do in the time that they have or come into contact with those individuals. I thank you. Thank you very much, Ms. Brown, for this plug. I'm sure it will go a long way to encourage members of the public to be receptive to our campaign messages. I would like to acknowledge the presence of the British, of the resident British Commissioner, Mr. Steve McCready. Sir, I'm sorry if you don't have much time to catch your breath, but can I call you on for your delivery of your message of solidarity? Thank you. Thank you very much, Claudia. First of all, let me beg your forgiveness for walking in so late. I'm afraid I was on a teleconference with some senior people back in London, and I found it quite hard to disengage myself from that, but I really hate being late, so apologies for being late. It's good to see you here, Minister and Permanent Secretary. Allow me to adopt the protocol, which I guess has already been established. It's a real pleasure to have been asked to come here today, and really I'm here today on behalf of the British Government to support this very important initiative by the Government of St Lucia. This is a crucially important subject, tackling human trafficking and modern slavery remains one of the UK's top priorities, and as is being demonstrated today, it's a very important priority for the Government of St Lucia as well. At the United Nations General Assembly in 2017, the British Prime Minister launched a call to action to end forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking, and we were very happy when St Lucia was one of the very first countries to have endorsed this initiative, and now over 60 countries are a part of the initiative, and what the initiative really does, is all the countries who have signed up to it have committed to work together to eliminate these apparent activities by 2030. In 2015, the UK enacted the Modern Slavery Act, which was the first of its kind, giving UK law enforcement agencies the tools they need, toughening up sentences for perpetrators, and increasing support and protection for victims, and as I walked in I heard a little bit about all those things, so again you can see how the UK and St Lucia are very closely aligned on that. Another one of the features of the Act was the establishment of the Office of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner to encourage best practice in the fight against all forms of modern slavery and human trafficking. In turn, this led to the establishment of the Transparency in Supply Chains initiative, and not too long ago the British government launched what they called the Transparency in Supply Chains guidance for businesses on how to ensure that no forms of trafficking are taking place in the complicated supply chains which businesses have in today's world. There are a range of other guidance which the British government has released to enable businesses, but also members of the public to understand how they too have a role to play in tackling this issue. I'm also very pleased to say that next month a member of the UK's Immigration Enforcement International will be providing human trafficking and immigration training to St Lucia Immigration and Law Enforcement colleagues. I believe that's taking place in Jamaica. All of this really demonstrates that our countries share not just the same policy objectives, but that we're actually very practically committed to working together to tackle human trafficking in all its forms. From day one here I've said I think one of the most important parts of my role is to highlight and support and encourage areas where the UK and St Lucia can work closely together, and I think today and this initiative and this work I think it's a great example of that happening. So I therefore commend and congratulate the minister, the ministry and the government of St Lucia for its leadership on this issue and the commitment to enhancing public awareness of it is hugely important. I think it's true of dealing with most crime that actually everyone in a society has a role to play in tackling it and raising public awareness about this issue is the first step in ensuring that everyone in this society will contribute to dealing with the very serious issue of human trafficking. So once again I thank you very much for inviting me today and I would like just to close by reaffirming the British government's support and solidarity for this initiative. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. So we have of course engaged in many meetings and there will be more meetings in the future on several issues but thank you so much for your very keen support to St Lucia on this issue of human trafficking. The campaign has a beautiful face to it. I don't know if you have seen that face. If you have not the moment is now as I would like to call on our brand ambassador and I beg your pardon campaign ambassador miss Abigail Glasgow with an introduction to us and a few remarks miss Glasgow. Good morning everybody allow me to adopt the protocol that has previously been established. My name is Abigail Glasgow and I was chosen to be the face of the human trafficking campaign. I believe that many solutions go about their daily lives thinking that this cannot happen to me or this doesn't happen here when in reality it does and it can happen to just about anyone. Even I was naive to the entire issue until I became a part of the campaign. I heard about a few of the incidents that have happened and then I realized that this is something that is very real and the people in these situations need to know that there are people out there willing to help. I believe that the campaign will go a very long way in educating the public about this matter and I am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this initiative to raise awareness on such an important issue. Thank you very much. Thank you Abigail. Of course you will notice Abigail's image on the media on the posters etc. We also engaged the consultants in developing a number of public service announcements and at this time we would like to refer you to the screen and I believe we should be able to get an early look maybe a bit of a preview. Imagine being away from home surrounded by danger and hostility unable to escape or speak the language and being exploited it might sound like fiction but for 40 million victims of human trafficking worldwide it is a reality innocent people enticed by the promise of a new life then enslaved into forced labour or sex trafficking human trafficking happens in plain sight know the signs see it report it to report suspected cases of human trafficking call the CIP hotline at 847 do you know me I've been forced to do this by my trafficker I was promised a better life but got forced into domestic servitude I can be any age I can be any gender any ethnicity I am I am I am a victim of trafficking in persons know the signs see it report it if you see me please help me call the TIP hotline at 847 human trafficking happens in plain sight know the signs see it report it to report suspected cases of human trafficking call the TIP hotline at 847 thank you very much to the talent who invested time and effort in this process job well done I would like to challenge anyone here who feels that they cannot be trafficked ever ever to place their hands up raise your hands if you think you can never ever be trafficked okay nobody did so that's good because to set yourself that you cannot be trafficked may just be putting your guard down in as much as you may have a good job and you may have a good salary guess what you might want love you might want romance so you never know what the trafficker might identify as a weakness about you and use that against you to lure you into just that spot where you can be exploited I would like to call on Mr. Placid Nuelia cable and wireless channel sales manager he has been extremely instrumental in ensuring that the hotline comes on stream I have called and bothered him a lot and he's always been a very very courteous and tolerant of my calls and we are very very grateful please convey that to the management of your company cable and wireless and now the podium is yours protocol already being established good morning and a blessed 2019 to all no designs see it reported I think is feeding as human trafficking and modern day slavery has become an ugly global scourge and it's the this initiative is critical in the efforts to minimize and eradicate this scourge from this planet and especially St. Lucia when we were approached with the request for the hotline I want to emphasize it's a hotline so for every individual no matter the provider no matter your medium of communication fixed line or mobile want to remind everyone that for this to be successful your participation is important fighting crime and crime prevention is a responsibility of every citizen and not just that of the government and the police you are not without credit with credit it's a free call and I know there's sometimes an issue of trust in the system also know that it's completely anonymous nobody's going to know your number or who is calling so I just want to reiterate that that from a provider point of view we're just grateful that we could be part of it and we could facilitate and making it happen again as Claudia mentioned it's her perseverance and persistence we did have a few hiccups in getting the short code required much as was done for the suicide hotline but her persistence and perseverance did have it come through so we're just grateful to be able to facilitate and want to again encourage every solution to make it your business to recognize the signs see it know it report it thank you thank you so much in my opening remarks I alluded to the role of the police they have been working assiduously and even in this room there may be persons who may have been trained by the police I know that some members of the media have been trained by the police in trafficking in persons and hats off hats off to our key partners our first point of departure whenever there may be a potential case of trafficking so I would now like to call the assistant commissioner of police with responsibility for crime and intelligence mr win charlie to share some remarks with us and to declare the hotline officially activated minister for home affairs justice and national security the senator mr hermanguille francis honorable do i have your permission to adopt the protocol that has been established thank you sir modern slavery commonly known as human trafficking has become the fastest growing criminal industry in the world today earning an estimated 6.3 billion dollars annually in the latin american and caribbean region human trafficking has freed and further weakened the socio-economic fabric exposed the lack of political will and subverted the rule of law in the region the demand for transactional sex and inexpensive labor in destination countries has created the need for recruitment of mainly very young female victims enabling migratory patterns where the countries of origin experience loss of economic contributions in transit countries experience subversions in the systems of law and order and the destination countries affected by overpopulation with its associated social complications increases in criminal activity becomes prevalent consequent to the high unemployment rates as a result of competition for limited resources that the overpopulation would cause the victims of human trafficking are stripped of their humanity suffering physical and psychological trauma not experience since the transatlantic slave trade increases in the spread of infectious diseases particularly sexually transmitted infections places a further burden on the health systems of a region that is only second in the world to the sub-saharan Africa with respect to the prevalence of HIV AIDS human trafficking has caused continued fragmentation of family structures under denouement of family values within the region evidence by these functional communities exhibiting unprecedented irrational and unnatural crime phenomena the campaign against narcotics and firearms trafficking have improved to be extremely demanding the governments of the region find themselves hard pressed to allocate the required financial technical and human resource necessary for the fight against human trafficking consequently it has become very challenging for some of our governments in the region to attain full compliance in meeting the standards outlined in the united states trafficking victims protection act of 2000 a legislation designed to combat human trafficking on a worldwide basis institutions of law order and justice throughout the region are being subverted through the actions of organized criminal groups resulting in the perpetuation of a perverse culture of corruption permissiveness that continues to engender disorder and chaos creating unsafe communities in the region notwithstanding this challenging theater of operations st. Lucia's national task was for the prevention of trafficking in persons under the stewardship of the ministry of home affairs and national security has made tremendous strides in our quest to attain full compliance with the standards outlined in the trafficking of victims protection act of 2000 the task force with the assistance from the international organization for migration created last year is standard operating procedures for the protection of victims of human trafficking a requirement of the counter trafficking act our own legislation against human trafficking the standard operating procedure is currently receiving consideration at the cabinet of ministers level a substantial number of law enforcement officers to include police customs immigration marine and correctional officers have received extensive training in the areas of human trafficking identification referral and assistance as well as investigations currently there are three police officers trained by Interpol as instructors who are able to deliver to deliver his human trafficking course the major crime unit under the umbrella of the crime management division is responsible for investigating all cases of human trafficking due to the complexity of this offense a coordinated approach of rendering support and assistance from other agencies and units engaging border and human security is required this coordination of resources and expertise has proven to be invaluable in responding appropriately to the very few reported presumed human trafficking cases that would have been investigated by the major crimes unit all this has culminated today in the launch of the counter trafficking awareness campaign spearheaded by the department of home affairs and national security in partnership with the international organization for migration the iom the main objective being that the public at large would be able to know the signs of human trafficking see human trafficking in play and report it by the conclusion of the campaign one of the main instruments by which persons can report incidents of human trafficking is by calling the counter trafficking in persons hotline housed within the police control room by dialing the numbers eight for one when a call is received by the officer eight four seven my apologies when a call is received by the officer attached to the police control room the information will immediately be relayed to the central intelligence unit for assessment development synthesis and then dissemination to myself or the assistant commissioner with responsibility for crime and intelligence management for the appropriate action the counter trafficking in persons hotline with the assistance from the public in reporting incidents of human trafficking can prove to be very a very effective tool in combating this threat the hotline is a toll anonymous 24 hours seven days a week service we at the police department are very pleased and grateful to have contributed to the collaborative efforts of the service provider line the department of home affairs and national security and the international organization for migration iom for the installation of the counter trafficking in persons hotline finally on behalf of the national task force for the prevention of trafficking in persons the royals and usher police force and the department of home affairs and national security i heard by sick the assistance of mr. august de gazon to activate officially activate the hotline eight four seven for public use i'm about to cook you on hello the morning i'm calling to report a suspected case of human trafficking yes there is business in my area and there's a few things that i consider to be very very suspicious yes thank you mr. de gazon the line has now been officially activated know the signs see it report it thank you very much thank you very much gentlemen and i'm happy to know that mr. de gazon is very vigilant and he is the type of person in the community is going to do the right thing pick up the phone and call the hotline and report your suspicious any suspicious behavior it may not be um trafficking in persons necessarily when the police examines it but that does not mean that there will not be an intervention by law enforcement as long as there is need for that it might be another kind of crime that is taking place and who's complaining that another type of crime was identified in the process so don't second guess yourself and say oh i've noticed something going on but it might not be trafficking in prisons still call and make your report and let the officials the law enforcement officials take it from there thank you we have trained a number of persons and i thought it's fitting that you care for yourself and first hand from one of our t ip trained participants um and in this case representing slasper one of our key stakeholders mr. peter louis who is going to come share with you briefly on what you know those sessions those intensive sessions have been like peter pleasant good morning one and all i would like to take the privilege of using the protocol so establish mr. minister i have permission i see the minister smiling it is because we had had the occasion to meet at a another function and i did remind him of the jacket he had that if i saw it hanging on a line that i would not even the ssd would be able to take it from me but with that said we are here to deal with the the fact that persons like myself and i can see it's almost like you know a class reunion you know i to see other colleagues from other departments of government who were trained in various aspects with regards to trafficking persons and one of the first things i would like to to say before i go on to do my little bit is that i am very pleased to have received the training um special thanks to the international organization for migration for the training because it was of a very high level it was very interactive and for that i thank all the persons who were part of the various sessions it was a lot of work but it was interesting we got lots of points of view we got to understand how different departments work and we also saw the areas in which we needed to improve in order for Saint Lucia to achieve that which we seek which is zero tolerance with regards to the idea of trafficking persons well i must state the first thing we learned that trafficking persons is the recruitment transportation transfer harboring or receipts of persons by means of threat use of force or other forms of coercion such as abduction fraud deception or the abuse of power position of vulnerability in giving or receiving payments or benefits to achieve the consent of the person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation with that said we all can understand how serious this is we dealt with the international protocol established in Palermo and we saw that the protocol highlights the vulnerability of children especially those under 18 and establishes the fact that it is impossible for them to consent regardless of the means used or not whether they were improper or not and the IOM that is the international organization for migration has provided assistance to many victims of such throughout the world and is also engaging countries like ours to honor our commitment to the Palermo protocol and to stand out and stamp out dangerous and damaging cycle that is human trafficking trafficking persons is a serious crime and it is a great violation of one's human rights every year thousands of men women and children fall victim to this activity and the pain to their families themselves the victim and the cost to the countries combating such continue to climb we in St. Lucia are very pleased to have received training from the IOM as it pertains to the detection analysis and even providing for victims of such with a multi-disciplinary approach one of our buzzwords in our training where we engage all stakeholders to help build and shape a realistic and strategic set of SOPs standard operating procedures to help in this effort as a tourism destination we are keen to ensure the pristine nature of our land and people our guests desire such but we know for a fact that the desire of the human spirit to do better and achieve more for themselves and families is always strong and so it makes all of us susceptible to trafficking through our training we learned a lot about the act the means and the purpose and we hope to educate the nation to allow for no solution to fall victim to the act of human trafficking we also want for non-nationals to have to never experience the horrors of such actions by individuals consumed by greed and selfish pursuits within our borders thereby taking a no-nonsense and collaborative approach to stamp out human trafficking in St Lucia for our part as a representative of the St Lucia and Seaport Authority we want to register our support for this campaign on behalf of the Port Council management and staff of the St Lucia and Seaport Authority we register our support and stand ready to be a part of the effort to stamp out human trafficking may we always be true to the words of our national anthem that justice truth and charity our ideal forever be thank you thank you so much Peter that was very comprehensive and brought me back to our training sessions which will as you said very interactive very informative very eye-opening of course we have very politely sped you the horror stories that we analyzed during our workshops and participants would say is that a true story but somebody abused to the point of becoming blind or big persons really have no opportunity to sleep and we would say yes these are real stories these are horror stories we've had participants actually excuse themselves for a while just to go outside take some fresh air remind themselves that this is a workshop and hopefully they can make a difference with the knowledge that they had now acquired I would like to mention some names because for us it is very meaningful um we need to acknowledge the consultants such as Miss Ophelia de Silva she is a former IOM migration expert very very competent at her job and she is now the chief field officer UNICEF brazil I'm happy about that because that's more networking that I can do on behalf of St Lucia Mr Robert Natiello he is the regional coordination officer of for the Caribbean chief of mission Guyana office we have Argentina Santa Cruz she was looking for a spot to maybe reside in St Lucia she's so in love with the island quite apart from coming here to work she decided that maybe she can live here and IOM can have an office in St Lucia so it has been a beautiful experience working with them a productive experience and there is a lot more work coming on stream and one segment of this would be our database and um we are hoping to work with Mr Luifanand can you just wave yes it's right here right over here so the work continues we will be monitoring the campaign as well and we have some messages in absentia these will be posted on the facebook page yes a facebook page is part of the project and to tell us more about that I would like to invite Mr Dale Elliott consultant to the podium good morning protocol being established I'm a customer telling long form stories so to tell a story of human trafficking in 60 seconds was difficult to send know the science see it and report it in 60 seconds seemed impossible but talent like Abby made it easy the facebook page takes that one step further what are the signs for modern day slavery for child trafficking for sex trafficking you will not pick up everything in 60 seconds from the ad but on a continuous basis we will be uploading information daily and not just for the three months for the campaign this is an extended effort please log on there's quite a bit of information local stories regional stories long form 90 seconds if it's your choosing like share and as well upload upload any comments that you have and feel free to tag other people thank you very much the page is simply human trafficking of course when you go on there please like add share I would now like to call on senator the honorable Herman Gil Francis minister for home affairs justice and national security to deliver the feature address and declare the campaign officially open thank you very much mr so ceremony who should who do I ask to adopt the protocol so I'll have to go for the list permanent secretary department of housing and former p.s. of the department of home affairs and national security mr agusta the guys are permanent secretary in the department of justice mrs morrow philips resident bitters commissioner mr steve migrady assistant commissioner of police with responsibility for crime and intelligence mr wane charlie director of implementation in the office of the prime minister mrs nancy charles director of senator forensic science services mrs fernanda henry deputy director of the forensic lab my good friend mr berkeley joseph deputy director well I don't see mr tarant air I'm runken file of the roads and Russia police force distinguish members of the national task force and the prevention of trafficking in persons the principal information officer of the government information service miss davina lee and the gis team don't seem that nicolae former participants of the counter trafficking workshops non-governmental organizations nationally of council the consultant mr dale eliot the talent used for the campaign the and I must remember her name trying to remember miss abigail glasgo ladies and gentlemen our viewers and live television the media present um a very good morning to all before I I go on I want to recognize and and quote some of the things that business miss felicia brown talked about and and she talked about the protection of victims the social protection and she also talked about the prosecution of the perpetrators I must tell her that we have been in discussion with the ag to strengthen legislation on the punishment if you are found guilty of human trafficking we want it to be aligned to the other serious offenses of rape and manslaughter which is strictly jail sentence um so we are going to be removing the the fine aspect and yet you go directly to prison in that situation we would need the concurrence of the judges and um we do hope that the judges will understand the magnitude of the problem and give the the sentence that is required I also want to thank miss claudia because she is really the engine behind this activity here she has the passion required to instill confidence in our social partners as indicated by mr placid noeline from cablin wireless so I want to recognize her contribution to the trafficking in persons is a worldwide phenomena it is a dehumanizing crime and it involves atrocious acts carried out against men women and children as the minister for home affairs justice and national security I believe those days of denying or thinking we are immune to this crime occurring here along over wherever there are people you will find some who are bent on criminality and unlawful means of enriching themselves I would want everyone to sit up and pay attention to this campaign the slogan says it all no the signs see it reported however this would prove to be counterproductive more so because we should present if we present a passive face to this crime and human rights violation traffickers looking for heavens in which to operate would become more grounded in carrying out the nefarious activities in 2015 senrusha officially became a member of the un international organization for migration iom it is a mere three years but already we have made great strides one that i can readily point to is the development of our standard operating procedures to guide all our stakeholders who would have a role in the identification protection and referral of any potential and or confirmed victim of trafficking senrusha stands at tier two in the international rankings we are proud of it it speaks a lot about a lot of hard work and persistence the next step is tier one but it will be very difficult to get there overnight there are some demands that have implications and i talked about the changing of the the fines taking out the fines and giving you straight imprisonment that again i said you have to get the concurrence of the judges we'll be very happy to work towards tier one as long as the department receives the necessary backing in measuring our progress it was first indicate that there are challenges and limitations that we have been working around however the department and its partners gtip and gtip is the funding arm which falls under the safe the state department to monitor and combat trafficking and the iom iom as well as the government of senrusha have managed to strengthen senrusha's capacity to effectively combat trafficking in persons we have been able to strengthen the instructional capacity of the government departments who are now sensitized in regard to taking a victim-centered approach our judicial system is strengthened because there is the counter trafficking act and now we are building the capacity of the entire populace through this campaign which has been carefully designed to promote awareness and bring this crime to light fruit training facilitated by interpol to senrusha police force has made significant strides to address this crime as our law enforcement actors as you would have heard from the assistant commissioner articulates and there and so there is no need to repeat these points but only to appreciate and support us on this journey as minister and on behalf of the government of senrusha i wish to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to the iom for the capacity building and public awareness tactical assistance project on counter trafficking which is being implemented in close collaboration with the government of senrusha through the department of home affairs and national security trafficking in persons is included in the sustainable development goals 2030 agenda including concerted efforts to end modern day slavery with connecting branches to issues such as forced labor and the exploitation of migrants the subject of trafficking in persons is very far-reaching and sensitive we have now been able to benefit further from two new projects with the assistant of the international organization for migration i refer to the national policy and plan for action for the reintegration of vulnerable migrants and i'm sure miss brown would be happy to hear that a technical assistance funded by the acp eu migration action and the original strengthening for the production and analysis of migration information in meso america and the caribbean again funded by iom what this tells us is that we have not remained static and our relationships are deepening on the international scene the technical assistance has been ongoing in earnest since november 2017 with the capacity building component leading the way the awareness campaign will be utilizing social media radio and television public service announcements distribution of promotional material and other outreach interventions in both english and qol we shall also devote this time to development of the case management database which will form a critical component of the project before i conclude i would like everyone involved in making this campaign a reality and if you are here present and you know yourselves i would like you to stand all persons mr lake ps sarge mr charlie um yes well peter i deliberated and not coming to jacket because the jacket because i didn't want to take it from me right deal and the rest of us could be put our hands together and give them a big round of applause thank you very much i now take this opportunity to declare the content trafficking public awareness campaign launched thank you minister this is a profound milestone for us and we are very appreciative of it i would now like to call on perhaps the most trained person in counter trafficking in st lusia to deliver the vote of thanks our minister spoke about my passion my passion is still taking baby steps compared to this gentleman's passion i i look to him for inspiration most of the time and he picks up the phone yes miss bon lui so but always accessible despite his is very crowded schedule i refer to none other than inspector lucas lake and he's a member of the national task force for the prevention of trafficking in person good morning all good morning all minister protocol established permission to carry on ladies and gentlemen where i have something written down if how to go forward human trafficking is as life as it can be i must confess i was not a believer until i was brought in and some of my other participants or classmates would tell you i didn't believe it could happen but haven't gone around the region with my other colleagues and the exposure we have it is alive and well and i need to make mention to what is happening today calling the 847 if it looks strange if it sees call it in the same happened some time ago with the language academy case where we will all help us not on what to do we have the proper tools now with the assistance of the iom the work and hours we have put in we are better placed now to deal with matters of human trafficking victims potential those who have been i am confident now that we can handle it in my bragging right thereafter i will let the region know what has happened and where we are thanks must be put in place wetting to the iom international organization for migration they are tough cookie to work with a lot of hours and i see dale checking his head you know what it is it's a bit of perfection you want to get it good on the first way moving forward getting it wrong means a potential victim will suffer it's a victim centered approach and when you go through the facebook page and see what is what is there it will change your mindset mr elliot thank you we know we have not been easy with you whereas you push sometimes are we not going to be easy if you're going forward we want to get it right every time we want to adopt a victim centered approach that any potential victim or person with that we incline we are going to help out members of the media we need you to drive this forward it cannot be only those of us in this room not only the law enforcement officers not only the train ones if you see something call it in and the slogan is right there you know know the signs see it report it do not leave it for somebody else report a member of your family a close friend could be a potential victim we cannot get it done deal with that broken leg you're 20 enough and if anything would happen we would still rely on the resources we have thank you media persons we want you to blast it off share it bring it out we have gone to the extent of the churches the schools and anybody who calls the task force for assistance we are there and the minister is evident to show that any support that is needed sometimes the finances are slow incoming but it comes the flyers the posters the transporting to various locations we are on it with that i want to say thank you but finally at the end of this we want you a little appreciation is not i'm juice and kick a little nicer than that so we want to welcome you all to some light refreshments thereafter remember in closing people if you see it know the signs see it report it assist us and get the message across help us out in rescuing any victim or potential victim with that thank you very much and may i just add my own words of thanks to my colleagues at the department of home affairs and national security thank you guys for lending your support to me i would be nothing without your support we also have some tokens that we will share with you and distribute with you we have flyers if you get to take some back to your lobby area for us we would appreciate that very much so that we continue to spread the message and thank you so much for joining us live and for those of you right here with us thank you so much for taking time all four of your busy schedules to be here thank you