Press Releases 2007

Gleaner Reporter to Participate in U.S. Program on Combating Human Trafficking

The United States Embassy in Kingston is pleased to announce that Ms. Andrea Downer, reporter and producer with The Gleaner Company Limited and Power 106 News Center, has been selected to participate in the U.S. Department of State-sponsored International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on Combating Human Trafficking. The U.S. Department of State IVLP sends up-and-coming leaders from all over the world to the United States each year to meet and confer with their professional counterparts and experience the country and its institutions first-hand.

As a reporter with the Gleaner and Power 106, Ms. Downer is responsible for producing and reporting news and investigative stories with special emphasis on environment, health, human rights and gender issues.

According to Ms. Downer, “the program comes at a time when Jamaica is facing numerous challenges in combating trafficking and despite progress in a number of areas, there needs to be significantly more investigations to unearth trafficking networks which should then result in prosecution and conviction of offenders.” She further added, “The provision of support network is a crucial area which the government has still not addressed and this increases the vulnerability of persons who are at risk as repeat victims.”

In assessing the impact her participation will have on her work, Ms. Downer said that she expects that the knowledge gained from IVLP program will deepen her understanding of global human trafficking and widen the range and scope of her coverage of the issues involved in trafficking in persons.

The three-week multi-city IVLP program, which begins on March 1, will take Ms. Downer and her 23 counterparts to Washington, D.C. where they will explore U.S. policy initiatives to protect, assist and provide social and economic reintegration of victims of trafficking. They will also discuss best practices to combat trafficking in persons, including prosecution of traffickers and enforcement strategies as well as international cooperation efforts to combat human trafficking.

Ms. Downer will meet with Department of Homeland officials in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to discuss immigration procedures and law enforcement strategies for identifying victims and traffickers. She is also expected to examine a case study on how federal and local law enforcement collaborate on immigration trafficking issues in a major border community.

In San Francisco, California, Ms. Downer and her colleagues meet with students at the University of California, Berkley and attend classes at their Human Rights Clinic. She will also meet with state representatives to explore the role of media in public education and outreach, victim services, legal representation and social intervention.

The Department of State through the US Embassy, Office of Public Affairs in August 2006 provided sponsorship for another Jamaican from the Immigration and Passport Services Department in the Ministry of National Security to participate in a similar program on human trafficking.