The new branding of the National Reporting Center, which will be unveiled by outgoing Minister of Justice Lyndon Lewis on October 18.
PHILIPSBURG--On October 18, the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom will observe Anti-Slavery Day, which focuses on raising awareness about human trafficking and modern slavery. On this day, outgoing Minister of Justice Lyndon Lewis will unveil the branding for the National Reporting Center (NRC) in St. Maarten.
The NRC is being established to provide prevention, protection and partnership services to the community, Lewis said during the Council of Ministers’ press briefing on Wednesday, announcing the reveal.
However, the NRC launched its Facebook page on September 30, 2024, showcasing its new logo. The organisation, which operates under the Ministry of Justice, introduces itself by stating: “We are St. Maarten’s central hub for fighting human trafficking and smuggling, offering 24/7 support and advocacy. Join us in creating a safer, more just community.” The public is encouraged to “stay tuned for updates on how we’re combating human trafficking and smuggling. Follow us for important news, resources, and ways to get involved in making our community safer.”
The NRC has also launched its website,
www.nrc.sx, although the homepage indicates that the site is still under construction. Additionally, the organisation’s new Instagram page is currently without any posts.
Lewis further announced, “In honour of Anti-Trafficking Day [in the EU – Ed.] on October 18, 2024, we will unveil the new branding for the National Reporting Center. The day before, a panel discussion on human trafficking will take place at University of St. Maarten (USM), featuring experts on the topic.”
He also said that a specialised training session for law enforcement, media and administrative personnel will be held later this month to “strengthen our collective approach.”
According to Lewis, a multidisciplinary task force is nearing completion. This task force will enforce the adult entertainment policy and prioritise tackling human trafficking. “This work is part of a broader strategy to protect the people of St. Maarten and address this serious issue head-on,” he said.
In 2024, St. Maarten, as in previous years, was rated a Tier 3 Country by the United States Department of State. The department concluded that “the Government of St. Maarten does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.” Tier 3 countries are subject to potential non-humanitarian and non-trade sanctions.
The U.S. Trafficking in Persons (TIP) office publishes each year a comprehensive report on global trends, outlining the actions countries take to combat human trafficking, prosecute traffickers and support victims. The 2024 TIP report, covering 188 nations and territories, noted the following about St. Maarten:
“As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit foreign victims in St. Maarten, and, to a lesser extent, St. Maarteners are vulnerable to trafficking. Caribbean, Eastern European, and Latin American women working in bars, clubs, and brothels are vulnerable to sex trafficking. Brothel owners exploit women and girls from Latin America and the Caribbean in sex trafficking. Illicit recruiters reportedly target foreign women in St. Maarten’s commercial sex industry through debt-based coercion; women from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela are especially vulnerable to sex trafficking in St. Maarten.”
Additionally, the report said that a significant number of migrant workers in St. Maarten are vulnerable to forced labour in various sectors, including domestic service and housekeeping, construction, neighbourhood grocery markets, retail shops, food service, and landscaping.
Former Minister of Justice Anna Richardson presented the NRC as operational in St. Maarten nearly a year ago, after it was reinstated in January 2023. In a December 5, 2023, press release, Richardson announced, “In a concerted effort to alter the global perception of St. Maarten’s status in combating human trafficking and human smuggling, the NRC, under the Ministry of Justice, continues its series of introductory sessions with various entities and associations to launch informative campaigns raising awareness of these issues.”
She highlighted that the St. Maarten Chinese Community Foundation (SCCF) is considered a key stakeholder in the NRC’s anti-trafficking strategy. She explained, “The SCCF expressed sincere interest and gratitude for the NRC’s outreach and has eagerly embraced the opportunity for collaboration. The NRC shared the importance of improving St. Maarten’s Tier 3 ranking on the U.S. TIP report and how this status affects our community. […]
“The NRC and SCCF are now poised to work closely together in raising awareness, improving accessibility, upholding human rights, and jointly combating the crimes of human trafficking and human smuggling. This partnership signifies a significant step forward in addressing these critical issues in St. Maarten.”
Despite these efforts, the 2024 TIP report noted that authorities in St. Maarten reported to U.S. observers that traffickers may coerce Asian and Caribbean workers into exploitative conditions resembling forced labour. Investigators concluded, “The government’s reduction of visas for foreign workers in certain sectors, including adult entertainment, increased their vulnerability to trafficking.”
Furthermore, the report identified that migrants, including Brazilian and Cuban nationals, who transit through St. Maarten are vulnerable to human trafficking. “Criminal actors, including smugglers, may exploit them in forced lobar or sex trafficking en route to the United States and Canada.”
The St. Maarten Police Force (KPSM) maintains a combined anti-human trafficking and anti-migrant smuggling unit (UMM), consisting of five officers who work closely with the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate potential trafficking cases. A designated prosecutor oversees the development of human trafficking and migrant smuggling cases.
TIP investigators noted in 2023 that UMM operated without a dedicated budget and had limited staffing. “The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (KMAR) embedded officers in UMM to mitigate staffing limitations,” the report said. Observers noted that the unit’s resources varied depending on the government’s prioritisation of anti-trafficking or anti-smuggling operations. The government did not report any substantive collaboration with foreign governments on trafficking cases.
Throughout 2023, UMM often worked with KMAR, the joint Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard, and other Kingdom entities. However, observers noted that inter-agency communication was inefficient. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes.
St. Maarten’s prosecution efforts remained minimal, according to the 2024 TIP report. The government reported initiating one trafficking-related investigation in 2023, compared to one in 2022. However, there were no reports of new prosecutions or convictions related to human trafficking in either 2023 or 2022.
St. Maarten’s legislation does provide for substantial penalties for human trafficking and related criminal activities. Article 2:239 of the penal code criminalises both sex trafficking and labour trafficking, prescribing penalties of up to nine years’ imprisonment or a fine for offences involving victims 16 years of age or older, and up to 12 years in prison or a fine for those involving victims under 16. The TIP office noted that these penalties are sufficiently stringent and, in cases of sex trafficking, comparable to those for other serious crimes like kidnapping.
Although former Minister of Justice Richardson announced on December 6, 2023, that the ministry’s senior policy advisor, Erling Hoeve, was spearheading the establishment of the NRC under the Ministry of Justice, the 2024 TIP report made it clear that “the national coordinator [Hoeve – Ed.] operated without a budget or staff in this capacity and had other full-time duties.”
The report further mentioned: “The government’s reinstated NRC lacked funding and official status during the reporting period, although it operated under the border protection agency and comprised two staff members. The government continued to revise the draft 2022-2023 National Action Plan, which outlined objectives to improve the anti-trafficking framework, including the creation of new standard operating procedures (SOPs) for victim identification and referral, developing civil society partnerships for service provision, and establishing a national anti-trafficking hotline. However, the government did not report formally adopting or implementing the plan in 2023.”
