JAMAICA on Friday unleashed its newest tool in an arsenal of anti-human smuggling measures with the launch of a digital course aimed at helping Jamaicans detect signs of the crime.

The Digital Anti-Human Trafficking Course comes with certification and was developed by the Office of the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons (ONRTIP).

Named ‘Heightening Awareness to Combat Human Trafficking’ it has three modules designed to further heighten awareness among Jamaicans at all levels of the society about the signs and dangers of trafficking in persons while supplying critical information about key responders. Individuals wishing to register can access the portal at www.onrtip.gov.jm and select from the drop down menu. Upon registering, individuals, after navigating the course material for each module, are required to take a short assessment before progressing to the next level. A certificate is issued upon completion of all three modules of the course which has a pass mark of 80 per cent.

Addressing the launch at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew, Jamaica’s first National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons and Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon-Harrison said the course was another step in the journey of the ONRTIP to “shed light” on what human trafficking is.

“Not just globally and a distant concept but one that really plants it front and centre within the context of the Jamaican reality. I continue to say that the biggest threat that Jamaica faces in the anti-human trafficking fight is absence of knowledge, absence of recognition that human trafficking is not a foreign thing, but is in fact a Jamaican thing and affects Jamaicans both in our country and outside,” she said.

“This particular launch is really geared towards building the awareness and sensitising Jamaicans of all walks of life that this thing is real, but more importantly, what it looks like in the Jamaican context,” she added.

Gordon-Harrison, in emphasising that the course is “very Jamaican”, said “it talks about those situations that we see in our communities, those situations we hear about in our neighbourhoods and those situations that sometimes we see every day and have no idea that this is human trafficking hidden in plain sight before our very eyes”.

“Very importantly as well, it tells us what to do if we see situations that are very much a part of our culture… unfolding, and if you persevere to the end of the course it certifies you as someone who has completed and who is to be recognised in the anti-human trafficking fight,” the national rapporteur told those attending the launch.

“We have to remember in the global context that human trafficking continues to be one of the most aggressive forms of organised crime in the world. When we look at the statistics, I think the last dollar figure indicates that it is one that amasses over US$150 billion in terms of the profits that traffickers really live off,” Gordon Harrison added.

State minister in the National Security Ministry Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, also speaking at the launch, pointed out that “recent alarming statistics indicate that the main perpetrators of child trafficking in Jamaica are parents and guardians”.

“It is important therefore to sensitise and train all relevant officials and others in strategies to curb this crime,” she said.

The 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report of the US State Department said Jamaica remains at tier 2 in its anti-human trafficking efforts as the Government “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so”.

It recommended, among other things, that the State “increase efforts to investigate and prosecute traffickers, including officials who are complicit in human trafficking and foreign nationals or Jamaicans who exploit child sex trafficking victims, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms”.

It also urged full implementation of screening tools to increase proactive identification and referral of potential trafficking victims among vulnerable groups — to include Cuban Government-affiliated workers in Jamaica and children apprehended for gang-related activity — and provide consistent training for officials on implementing these tools.

Additionally, the report prodded the Government to increase efforts to provide more victims, whether identified in Jamaica or repatriated from abroad, with comprehensive, trauma-informed, services, including reintegration support and for the full length of any legal proceedings.

The report also noted that for the 2024 period officials opened investigations into 61 cases, 48 involving sex trafficking, six involving labour trafficking, and seven involving unspecified forms of trafficking, compared to the previous reporting period when officials opened investigation into 60 cases — 55 involving sex trafficking and five involving labour trafficking.

It further said authorities initiated prosecutions of eight suspects (six charged with sex trafficking and two charged with labour trafficking), similar to the previous reporting period when authorities initiated prosecutions of seven suspects (five charged with sex trafficking and two with labour trafficking).

Over the period, authorities continued prosecution of seven defendants charged with sex trafficking crimes in previous reporting periods and convicted three sex traffickers of offences with lesser penalties under the Sexual Offences Act. Authorities, at the same time, dismissed charges against four suspects charged under the anti-trafficking law and did not convict any traffickers under the trafficking law.

The State Department, however, labelled as “inadequate” the court’s sentencing of one convicted offender to six months in prison or pay a fine of $200,000 (US$1,300), and ordered two convicted offenders each to serve six months in prison or pay a fine of $100,000 (US$650).

“These penalties were inadequate compared to the seriousness of the offences and insufficient to deter other offenders. In comparison, during the previous reporting period, courts convicted one sex trafficker and two labour traffickers under the anti-trafficking law, with sentences ranging from either three years in prison or a fine of $1 million (US$6,490) to 15 years’ imprisonment. In the previous reporting period, courts also convicted two individuals for sex crimes against a child and child protection violations in a child sex trafficking case; courts sentenced one of these individuals to 17 years and three months in prison during this reporting period,” the US State Department said.

It further noted that “the slow pace at which cases moved through the courts hampered efforts to hold traffickers criminally accountable and deterred victims from serving as witnesses”.

Jamaica’s first National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons and Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon-Harrison (second left) captures the attention of (from left) Ambassador Sheila Sealy Monteith, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; junior minister in the National Security Ministry Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn; and Sandrea Maynard, pro vice-chancellor, Global Affairs of The University of the West Indies Mona at the launch of a Digital Anti-Human Trafficking Course developed by the Office of the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew on Friday.