THE Senate is expected to debate the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Suppression and Punishment) Act when it meets today at Gordon House, coming on the heels of last week’s US State Department report listing Jamaica among the countries not doing enough to combat human trafficking.

The bill was tabled in the House of Representatives on November 14 last year and was passed three weeks later with support from the Opposition. However, it has been languishing on the table of the Senate since.

Today, the Senate will also debate a motion from Opposition senator and spokesman on information, Senator Dwight Nelson, seeking to have the government outlaw HIV/AIDS tests as a prerequisite for employment.

The Cabinet approved the Trafficking in Persons bill, with much fanfare, on November sixth last year. Minister of Information Donald Buchanan heralded it as part of efforts to control the global crime. He also pointed out that it was coming to Parliament on the eve of a congressional review of the global situation in the United States later that month. But, after it passed through the House in November nothing more was heard about the bill until this week.

Last week’s report from the US State department listed Jamaica among 39 countries placed on a “Special Watch List”, with implications that they could eventually be demoted to the lowest high risk ranking and be slapped with sanctions by Washington.

The “Special Watch List” consists of countries deemed to warrant special scrutiny of their anti-trafficking efforts, as required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorisation Act (TVPRA) of 2003. The list includes countries that have very significant human trafficking problems but have not shown increased efforts over the last year.

The rankings are called tiers. In 2005 Jamaica slipped into tier three, which is for countries which do not fully comply with the basic, minimum standards and were not making significant efforts to do so. In 2006 there was some improvement and Jamaica was upgraded to tier two, which meant that it was not fully complying but was making efforts to do so. Last week, the State Department said that Jamaica had shown only “modest progress” in combating human trafficking since the 2006 report hence its watchlist placement.

Only three countries in the Americas are rated below Jamaica and these are Belize, Cuba and Venezuela.

The Senate is also expected to take a position today on what action government should take to protect persons with HIV/AIDS from exposure at the workplace.

The motion, tabled in October last year by Senator Nelson, who is also president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) will generate discussions on the issue.

The motion wants the Senate to call on the government to amend the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act (LRIDA) to make the “widespread” practice of screening for HIV/AIDS as a prerequisite for employment illegal.

“Such practices are violations of the fundamental principles and rights at work and undermines efforts for prevention and care. Such practices transgress ILO Conventions number 111 and number 155 which Jamaica has ratified,” Nelson’s motion states.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO), the United Nations body responsible for workers’ rights, has been calling for global action to stop discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS. However, there are different views on whether testing should be outlawed as some quarters feel that the information will assist in controlling the spread of the disease and employers insist they should have the right to do so.