The  Bahamas  remains at Tier 1 on this year’s U.S Trafficking  In Persons report (TIP) released yesterday.

This happened after making serious and sustained efforts during the reporting period. 

Those efforts , noted the report, includes “passing a national action plan, increasing funding for victim assistance and anti-trafficking prevention, elevating  national anti-trafficking planning to the office of the prime minister and instituting an anti-trafficking course into the training curriculum of the immigration department.”

While the government met the minimum standards, the report pointed out that authorities initiated significantly fewer investigations and inconsistently applied screening procedures to vulnerable populations.

Credible allegations of corruption also raised concerns about vulnerabilities of potential trafficking victims during the reporting period. 

The United States suggested that the country “increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, convict, and appropriately punish traffickers – and that includes officials complicit in sex or labor trafficking”.

There was also the suggestion to “robustly implement the victim identification and referral protocol to identify victims of sex and labour trafficking”, especially among vulnerable groups, including Haitians, Venezuelans and other migrants.

It  also suggested  to provide vulnerable individuals with assistance prior to, during, and after screening for trafficking,  is also on the list as well as providing language and cultural interpretation in screening and trauma-informed protective services for vulnerable populations, particularly in lesser known languages such as Creole and Spanish.

There is a further need to increase victim-centered training for prosecutors, judges, and policemen  on the trafficking in persons act and collecting corroborative evidence to support victim testimony, increase grassroots outreach to potential trafficking victims among vulnerable groups in partnership with non-governmental organizations and strengthen engagement with officials involved in anti-trafficking activities in other countries in the region.

 Human trafficking is said to be one of the most heinous crimes on earth.