Hypocrisy - Diaspora dismisses human trafficking report
published: Sunday | June 26, 2005

Leonardo Blair, Enterprise Reporter

Advisers of the Jamaican diaspora to the Government yesterday unequivocally dismissed as hypocritical and facetious the recently-published findings of the 2005 Trafficking in Persons Report.

The report downgraded Jamaica's ranking from tier two on its human trafficking watch list to the lowest assessment, tier three, this year.

The advisers who are from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, poured scorn on the ranking which is likely to ban Jamaica from receiving non-humanitarian and non-trade- related assistance from the United States as of October this year.

OUTRAGED

"I am personally outraged by the downgrade," said Travis Johnson, an adviser from the U.K. "When we heard that, we were
surprised," said Philip Mascoll, president of the Jamaican Diaspora Canada Foundation. "Had it (trafficking) happened in Canada, we would have known about this. If it happens at all, it must be a sprinkling among the population," said Mascoll.

"I am personally outraged as a practitioner of immigration law," said Dahlia Walker-Huntington. She explained that she has dealt with many eastern European cases involving human trafficking and Jamaica pales in comparison to their experience.

The report has been rejected by the P.J. Patterson-led government as being highly prejudicial and based on unsubstantiated information.

In the meantime, the group also lashed out at persons diagnosing the country as a failed state. "I question the wisdom of somebody in any position who would say something like that. It is a careless, nonsensical statement," said Mascoll. "It cannot be a failed state if people are coming in for your teachers, your doctors and your nurses," said Paulette Simpson, chief U.K. representative.

Major concern

"In the U.K., we do not get that message (of a failed state). The major concern in the U.K. (about Jamaica) is crime. We are asking the Government to combat crime and violence and see how best we (the diaspora) can assist at the very basic level," said Simpson.

The group also expressed concern over the parading of crime in local media overseas which could give the impression of a failed state. They, however, called for a better highlighting of efforts at development.

"We cannot focus on the negative. To describe Jamaica as a failed state is wholly gross. We should rebuke that kind of statement," said Sharon Fflokes Abrahams, vice-president of the Jamaican Diaspora Canada Foundation.