The Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Christopher Pryde (pictured above) , has indicated that the sentence handed down in Fiji’s recent human trafficking case sends a strong message to would-be offenders.
“This is Fiji’s second successful prosecution of a human trafficking ring since the Fijian government brought in the Crimes Decree in 2009 which created specific offences of human trafficking. The sentence handed down today sends a very strong message to people who would engage in this type of offending.
We also recognise that the success of this prosecution was only possible with the efforts of other government agencies such as the Police Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, the Department of Immigration, and the Ministry of Women, Social Welfare, and Poverty Alleviation.”
The Office of the DPP intends to increase its focus on this area in 2013 with an increase in training for state prosecutors and will include a strengthened public awareness campaign.
In addition to these initiatives, the ODPP intends to establish a national referral mechanism later this year to ensure that issues surrounding the detection of victims, time delays, and inter-governmental agency co-operation are adequately addressed.
MINFO