T&T records just two human trafficking convictions in 11 years

Trinidad and To­ba­go has record­ed on­ly two con­vic­tions for hu­man traf­fick­ing of­fences, de­spite 85 peo­ple ap­pear­ing be­fore the courts for traf­fick­ing and re­lat­ed of­fences be­tween 2013 and 2024, ac­cord­ing to the Gov­ern­ment’s sub­mis­sion to the Unit­ed Na­tions Hu­man Rights Coun­cil’s Uni­ver­sal Pe­ri­od­ic Re­view (UPR).

The fig­ures have raised ques­tions about the ef­fec­tive­ness of in­ves­ti­ga­tions and pros­e­cu­tions, as well as the sup­port avail­able to vic­tims ex­pect­ed to par­tic­i­pate in crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ings.

Related coverageAttorney General John Jeremie Meets US Delegation on Human Trafficking5 reports

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How­ev­er, for­mer head of the Caribbean Cen­tre for Hu­man Rights Denise Pitch­er says the low num­ber of con­vic­tions re­mains deeply con­cern­ing, giv­en the scale of traf­fick­ing she be­lieves oc­curs in Trinidad and To­ba­go.