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Barbados
Trafficking Routes
The Caribbean region is a point of transit and origin for trafficking in
persons to Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, Spain, and other
European countries.
Factors That Contribute to the Trafficking Infrastructure
An increase in tourism to the island nation has reportedly resulted in an
increase in sex tourism. Furthermore, the seaport in the capital, Bridgetown,
provides a steady demand for commercial sex.1
Forms of Trafficking
Trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation is a growing
concern in the entire Caribbean region. Millions of children in the region are
victims of commercial sexual exploitation, sex tourism, pornography, underage
domestic labor, and trafficking.2
The commercial sex industry in Barbados consists primarily of women in
prostitution in clubs and streetwalkers catering to male tourists and local
clientele. There has been an increase in the amount of sex tourism in Barbados,
especially involving tourists from Western Europe.3
In addition, unlike most sex tourism spots, perpetrators are often women
from developed countries seeking “romance tourism” with local men. This sort of
tourism takes place mainly in the West Coast beaches and other tourist resorts of
Barbados.4 According to one report, romance tourism has become much more
visible over the past decade. Local teenage boys, some as young as 14 or 15,
often enter the business on summer vacation, and some end up never returning
to school. The young men are treated to drinks, dinners, shopping sprees,
jewelry, and other luxury goods, and sometimes even trips abroad.5
Government Responses
1
End Child Prostitution, Pornography, and Trafficking (ECPAT) International Online Database, 30 March
2004, http://www.ecpat.net.
2
“Ricky Martin, US Labor Secretary to Meet on Child Labor,” Agence France Presse, 24 September 2003.
3
ECPAT International Online Database, 30 March 2004, http://www.ecpat.net.
4
ECPAT International Online Database, 30 March 2004, http://www.ecpat.net.
5
Annan Boodram, “Sex Tourism.,” Caribbean Voice, 1–15 August 2001,
http://www.caribvoice.org/Travel&Tourism/sextourism.html.
The Sexual Offences Act of 1992 prohibits procuring another person for
prostitution, whether in Barbados or elsewhere, even if the person is already in
prostitution, and it prohibits procuring another person so that person will frequent
or become an inmate of a brothel, regardless of whether the victim is already an
inmate of a brothel elsewhere. Punishment for these offenses is imprisonment for
up to 15 years.6
The act prohibits procuring a minor below 16 years of age for sexual
intercourse with another person in Barbados or elsewhere.7 Moreover, Under the
Minors Offence Act of 1998, loitering for the purpose of prostitution is punishable
by imprisonment for up to 2 years.
Also, under the Protection of Children Act of 1990, it is an offense to take
or permit to be taken any indecent photographs of a child.8 Under the Offence
against the Person Act of 1994, abducting a female below the age of 21 is
punishable by imprisonment ranging from 2 years to life.
The government established the National Committee for Monitoring the
Rights of the Child. The mandate of the committee is to review national laws to
ensure their conformity with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.9
Multilateral Initiatives
In 2003, the International Organization for Migration and the InterAmerican Commission of Women of the Organization of American States began
a regional countertrafficking initiative in the Caribbean, which was financed by
the U.S. Department of States’ Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration.
The project, called Countertrafficking of Women and Children for Exploitation
Purposes in the Caribbean, aims to further cooperation among concerned
governments in the antitrafficking arena. A variety of initiatives will be carried out
during this yearlong project, including awareness raising, information
dissemination, research and capacity building, and training for governments and
civil society. A national seminar and training workshop will be held in each
country, and a regional seminar will also take place. Participating countries, in
addition to Barbados, include Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Guyana,
Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.10
6
Article 13.
Article 13(a).
8
Section 3 (1)(a).
9
ECPAT International Online Database, 30 March 2004, http://www.ecpat.net.
10
“Spotlight: Regional Counter-trafficking Project in the Caribbean,” IOM News (North American and
Caribbean Supplement), no. 4 (2003), http://www.iom.int.
7