A member or members of the TT Coast Guard (TTCG) are now facing disciplinary procedures over claims of sexual exploitation of a Venezuelan woman held at the Chaguaramas Heliport for illegal entry to Trinidad, said a report laid in the House of Representatives on Friday.
Sport Minister Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis laid the Sixth Report of the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on Human Rights, Equity and Diversity chaired by Dr Muhammad Yunus Ibrahim. Concerns were raised on the topic, sexual exploitation of migrants while in state custody.
The Caribbean Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) had highlighted public reports of the sexual abuse of female detainees at the heliport.
The report said days before the committee’s visits to the heliport and the Immigrant Detention Centre (IDC), Aripo, on June 9, 2023, the police publicly said there was no evidence of sexual exploitation at the heliport.
"The police service was unable to confirm or deny reports that a female Venezuelan detainee had been sexually assaulted by a Coast Guard officer."
However, the report added a notable revelation.
"During the site visit to the heliport, coast guard officials acknowledged the complaint of sexual misconduct and explained that disciplinary proceedings were ongoing at that time.
"While visiting the common areas used by migrants held at the heliport, the committee also noted that there was a white board on which many obscenities and sexually explicit expressions had been scribbled in Spanish. This raised the question as to whether any actions had occurred at the heliport that reflected what was written."
The committee spoke to female Venezuelan detainees at the IDC in Aripo, previously held at the heliport.
"They expressed negative feelings about the treatment they had received there (heliport), owing to an environment lacking the requisite care for the dignity of detainees.
"When asked whether there had been anything about their detention at the heliport that they would describe as inappropriate, the female detainees mentioned 'horrible' practices but were hesitant to give precise details."
The report reckoned the immediate repatriation of Venezuelan asylum-seekers "inadvertently creates conditions conducive to sexual exploitation of the said migrants."
Detained migrants were not held for long a time, maybe reducing their discomfort but also making follow-ups on their complaints of inappropriate conduct by their guards "all but impossible," the report said.
"This reality, in turn, is likely to incentivise the very inappropriate conduct for which coast guard officers were facing disciplinary procedures at the time of the site visit."
The report cited the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights saying the State had a duty to protect a person's dignity and physical and mental integrity from acts by people including those acting in their official capacity.
The report said, "This further emphasises the gravity of the numerous sexual abuse claims made against those given the responsibility, who are therefore people
