The Ministry of National Security and Peace has applauded itself for “making steady progress” in the fight against human trafficking, noting that it has conducted 79 related investigations, with nine alleged traffickers arrested and charged over the last year.

The Government was, no doubt, buoyed by the United States Department of State’s 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report – Jamaica, which acknowledged that, while it does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, the ministry is “making significant efforts to do so”.

“The Government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period; therefore, Jamaica remained on Tier 2,” the report said.

We in this space are, of course, keen to receive good news about any bit of progress that can be reported in any facet of Jamaican life, and certainly in the area of human trafficking, which is a nasty endeavour doing grievous harm to the most vulnerable Jamaicans.

And maybe one would be naive to expect the junior minister, Mrs Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn — under whose assignments human trafficking falls — to be anything but overly optimistic in her speech to the recent Trafficking in Persons Town Hall 2026 at Emancipation Park in St Andrew.

According to the State-run Jamaica Information Service (JIS), the minister attributed the country’s “regionally recognised progress” to stronger enforcement actions, increased prosecutions, and a coordinated national response.

“Our agencies conducted 79 trafficking investigations last year, resulting in nine alleged traffickers being arrested and charged. These outcomes reflect the dedication of our law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, social service providers, and international partners who continue to strengthen Jamaica’s capacity to detect, investigate, and disrupt trafficking networks,” Mrs Cuthbert-Flynn said.

She did acknowledge, however, that human trafficking is no longer limited to hidden spaces or conventional criminal enterprises, evolving alongside technology, becoming increasingly sophisticated, borderless and difficult to detect, even as the objective behind it stays the same — the exploitation of people for profit.

She admitted that the Government was fretful over the potential harm to the more than 15,000 Jamaicans participating in overseas employment programmes last year, saying that as the programmes grow, “our vigilance in protecting participants must grow with them”.

This is why, the minister explained, Jamaica continues to invest in prevention initiatives, public education, victim protection, and collaboration with regional and international partners, so that survivors are met with support rather than suspicion.

Still, for all this, there were shortcomings that Mrs Cuthbert-Flynn might have left out of her speech, or were absent from the JIS account of it.

The State Department’s 2025 report, if it is to be believed, said the Government conducted fewer investigations, decreased funding for victim protection services and did not consistently screen some groups vulnerable to trafficking.

Nor did it approve a draft national policy to replace its expired National Action Plan covering legislative, institutional, and operational strategies to combat trafficking in persons.

We know the resource shortages, but hope to hear better news next year.