TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS IN BELIZE - OAS
TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS IN BELIZE - OAS
TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS IN BELIZE - OAS
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24.3% used filtered water. To sum up, a 49.8% of Belizean houses has an<br />
adequate access to drinking water. 14<br />
Another distinctive character of this country’s context is the development of a<br />
social security system. Every legal resident must be registered in the Social<br />
Security and anyone who pretends to get a job must have a social security card.<br />
The following is the list of those who can obtain the card: born Belizeans and<br />
holder of permanent resident and amnesty cards, holder of work permits,<br />
holders of amnesty temporary documents, holders of dependants’ permits,<br />
holders of refugee cards, holders of student permits. 15 The card offers a wide<br />
range of benefits: maternity allowance (this benefit is paid to an insured woman<br />
when on maternity leave), maternity grant, sickness benefit (it is paid for a<br />
maximum of 39 weeks once the person is medically certified as unable to work),<br />
invalidity grant, injury benefit, medical care (if the person suffers and<br />
employment injury), disablement pension (if you are injured on the job or while<br />
going from home to work or from work to home), disablement grant, constant<br />
attendance allowance (following and employment injury or work related<br />
prescribed diseases if the insured person is 100% disabled), retirement<br />
pension, retirement grant, funeral grant, survivor pension, survivors grant,<br />
funeral grant and death benefit (this benefit is payable for a death of an insured<br />
person caused by employment injury) 16 .<br />
The above indicators are closely related with the main issues of this study:<br />
human trafficking and migratory flows.<br />
The mentioned data takes place in a small, open and up-and-coming economy,<br />
especially in the service sector related to tourism in the last ten years. We must<br />
add the classic economic source of Belize: agriculture and its industries.<br />
The country has had a long term growth in its economy, the Gross Domestic<br />
Product grew 3.5% between 1999 and 2000. After the increase rhythm of GDP<br />
was interrupted by, among other factors, natural disasters, in the last years it<br />
regained its strength.<br />
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