United States Embassy public affairs officer Patricia Attkisson (left) congratulates Nigel Parke (second left), legal officer, Ministry of Justice; Nesta Haye (centre), coordinator, Victim Support Unit, Ministry of Justice; Taitu Heron (second right), manager, social policy, Plannning Institute of Jamaica, and Annette Richards, of the Ministry of National Security, who were selected to participate in the U.S.-sponsored International Visitor Leadership Program on Human Trafficking, which is to be held in the U.S., September 17 to October 5. - Contributed

Four Jamaicans have been selected to participate in the United States Department of State-sponsored International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on Combating Trafficking in Persons.

The participants are Taitu Heron, manager, Social Policy and Gender Unit in the Planning Institute of Jamaica; Annette Richards, parish coordinator, Victims Support Unit in the Ministry of National Security; Nesta Haye, coordinator, Victim Support Unit and Nigel Parke, legal officer in the Ministry of Justice.

All four are members of the National Task Force for Trafficking in Persons.

The three-week multi-city programme, which begins Septem-ber 17, will take the Jamaicans and their Caribbean counterparts to Washington D.C. where they will explore U.S. policy initiatives to protect, assist and provide social and economic integration 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.

Inter-agency work

The participants will also meet with representatives of the Human Trafficking Task Force, Bexar County Sheriffs Department in San Antonio, Texas, to discuss the city's coordinated inter-agency work to prosecute and prevent human trafficking crimes.

The Department of State, through the U.S. Embassy's Public Affairs Section provided sponsorship for two Jamaicans from the Ministry of National Security and The Gleaner Company Limited to participate in a similar programme on human trafficking in 2006/07.