By Kelvin Gonlah, gonlahkelvin1995@gmail.com
Ahead of World Day Against Trafficking In Persons on Monday, July 31, 2023, the Liberian government through the Ministry of Labor has held a big awareness program on the need to fight this illegal practice.
Liberia will be joining other countries around the world to carry on awareness (Community Engagement) of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons (TIP) on Monday with its international partners under the theme: “Reach Every Victim Of Trafficking, Leave no one behind”.
In its 2023 report on trafficking in persons, the US State Department said: “Human trafficking is an affront to our foundational values—that everyone is created equal and has the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It erodes our communities, weakens the rule of law, and undermines our national security. As President Biden wrote in the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking, this Administration is committed to keeping that fight at the forefront of our national security agenda.”
In that report, the US government commended the Liberian government for making improvement in fighting human trafficking, as this country has now been removed from the Tier 2 Watch List.
Ahead of Monday’s program, an awareness program was held at the Municipal Corporation of the Borough of New Kru Town Hall, Bushrod Island in Monrovia; implemented as Liberia’s sixth National Observance of the World Day against trafficking in persons.
It was intended to educate Liberians to prevent the spread of trafficking in persons in Liberia and be a whistleblower of trafficking in person.
Speaking at the well-attended occasion on July 29, 2023, the Director of Trafficking in Persons at the Ministry of Labor, Secretariat of Trafficking in Persons in Liberia Adolphus G. Satiah explained that member state of the United Nations (UN) which Liberia is a signatory to the July 30 declaration of this date to create awareness around the world about trafficking in persons, which is an international crime.
“The government of Liberia (GOL) says that people who are involved in trafficking in person are criminals; they should be arrested for further investigation. If they are found guilty of these three elements (the Act, the Means, and the Purpose) by the Liberia National Police (LNP). It’s deception, lie, and fraud; he or she will be prosecuted by the Liberian government at Criminal Court “A” at the Temple of Justice. When the case goes to court, the Ministry of Labor has already hired five seasoned to work with the Ministry of Justice to prosecute the trafficker,” Director Satiah informed the gathering.
“When you are found guilty of human trafficking, the minimum sentence will be 20 years the new law says. Before the first law says one year when an individual is found guilty of human trafficking but the new law we revised in 2021 September 20 years to live imprisonment if the case, you trafficked that person and got injured or death or sick, the Judge will use his description as per the law and charge you for live imprisonment,” he indicated.
“There are a couple of policy documents the government of Liberia has put together to fight human trafficking. So the first document the government of Liberia put together was called a situation analysis for Women and Children the United Nations team hired a South African lady and she came in 2010 in Liberia; we visited all the fifteen political subdivisions in Liberia in 2010. We identified that indeed human trafficking taking place in Liberia and is on the increase,” Mr. Satiah added.
The Liberian government developed its first 5 years National Action Plan (NAP) in 2013 to prevent trafficking in person in Liberia and it has four pillows which have to do with prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership.
“This gathering we are now, we are creating awareness to all of you is about prevention and is one of the pillows of the National Action Plan I mentioned. On Monday, it will be the day that we all will be here again at this Hall. We will provide T-shirts and Stickers to create awareness and we will put banners up to create awareness; we will March and come here at this Hall to stop the spread of human trafficking in Liberia which is another pillow of the National Action Plan (NPA)”, he mentioned.
“Besides the National Action Plan, the government of Liberia developed another document called the Sender of Operation Procedure (SOP) to assist victims of human trafficking which was developed by the government and its international partners. In that book, every member of the task force has its role to play the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Liberia National Police, and the Liberia Immigration Service”, said Director Satiah.
“All the Ministers on this task force, fortunately, the task force is chaired by the Ministry of Labor. We will be here on Monday, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy and all our international friends will be here. Director Satiah further told the community: “So we are here today to create awareness so if you leave from here, you will tell your friends that on Monday, the 31st of July the main program will be taking place here in this Hall.”