TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS IN BELIZE - OAS

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generally older male, in exchange for luxuries that might be obtained in exchange for sex”. This research is one of the first ones to approach the issue of human trafficking in order to provide the prostitution trade and it also highlights the fact that there are “middlemen” who are in charge of bringing immigrants for this special purpose. The study points out that “the role of intermediaries or middlemen is an important one as they link the sex providers to both owners and clients. These intermediaries facilitate the trafficking of women and girls into Belize and others as the go-between clients seeking these personas and the persons themselves. Those intermediaries who traffic these persons into the country, note that they do so every three to four months and receive cash payments for doing so. The persons brought into the country are given the promise of higher earnings than in their respective home countries”. The concern on human trafficking reached its peak in 2003 when the United States’ department declared Belize as a major trafficking country and put it on a Tier 3 list. This was a surprise for many people and officials in Belize. The process started when the United States Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (or TVPA) in the year 2000. This new law requires the Secretary of State to submit a report in June of each year. In it, countries believed to have a significant trafficking problem are evaluated on the report and are classified into one of three “tiers”. Countries assessed as meeting the “minimum standards” for the elimination of human trafficking are classified as Tier One. Countries assessed as making significant efforts to meet those minimum standards, though not yet fully compliant, are classified as Tier Two. Countries assessed as neither complying with the minimum standards, nor making significant efforts to do so, are classified as Tier Three. These last countries are subject to statutory restrictions on non-humanitarian and non-trade-related U.S. Government assistance or, in some circumstances, retaining funding for educational and cultural exchanges. In addition to this, the President could 28
oppose loans or other utilization of funds (other than for humanitarian, traderelated or certain types of development assistance) with respect to countries on Tier Three only. Countries classified as Tier Three that take “immediate action” (i.e. within 60 days of the report’s release) to show significant efforts against trafficking may be able to avoid such sanctions. In December 2003, an amendment to the TVPA was made. It added three new criteria and revised two existing criteria that “should be considered” in evaluating whether a country is making “serious and sustained effort” to eliminate trafficking (the fourth “minimum standard”). Most significant of these revised criteria are the requirement that governments provide to the State Department with anti-trafficking law enforcement statistics and the emphasis on “appreciable progress” made annually by countries. A “Special Watch List” was created by the 2003 Amendment. This “Special Watch List” must be provided by the Secretary of State to Congress later in the year. Anti-trafficking efforts of the countries on this list are to be evaluated again in a new “Interim assessment” that the Secretary of State must provide to Congress by February 1, 2005. In addition to tracking countries that move up in the “Tier” rankings, the “Special Watch List” also effectively creates a fourth new tier, the Tier Two Watch List, which consists of Tier Two countries determined in this way: 1.- The ones that not have made “increasing efforts” over the past year. 2.- The countries to have improved from Tier Three status based on commitments of near-term anti-trafficking reforms. 3.- The countries that have a very significant number of trafficking victims or a significant increasing victim population. Belize’s government rapidly reacted to the first classification of the United States State Department. They where well aware of the difficult economic and diplomatic situation they would have to overcome if they didn’t do so. The relation between both countries had grown in a steady way in the last few years; 29
Page 1 and 2: TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS IN BELIZE Pr
Page 3 and 4: too is that Belize’s public autho
Page 5 and 6: “there is not one single country
Page 7 and 8: Transnational Crime was held and tw
Page 9 and 10: efforts to improve the situation. B
Page 11 and 12: underlined the fact that the ways o
Page 13 and 14: active participation of the social
Page 15 and 16: not a national food, music or dress
Page 17 and 18: One of the main issues of the educa
Page 19 and 20: 24.3% used filtered water. To sum u
Page 21 and 22: insertion within the major industri
Page 23 and 24: he also shows that immigrants have
Page 25 and 26: scientifically controlled represent
Page 27: to bid down wages and eliminate ben
Page 31 and 32: Persons (TIP) Report made public, i
Page 33 and 34: We defined the profile of the event
Page 35 and 36: disentangle situations that, at fir
Page 37 and 38: a list of contacts that will help t
Page 39 and 40: the country, in February 16.677 ent
Page 41 and 42: communications and service faciliti
Page 43 and 44: isolated in this hotel. The Hotel P
Page 45 and 46: have to evaluate very carefully whe
Page 47 and 48: going through these few controls, t
Page 49 and 50: position is extremely vulnerable to
Page 51 and 52: that have been detected, the Depart
Page 53 and 54: When the case was reported nothing
Page 55 and 56: wouldn’t be logic to keep them in
Page 57 and 58: Sometimes the girl can even have a
Page 59 and 60: obstacles or sail dangerous seas to
Page 61 and 62: and manipulation are more difficult
Page 63 and 64: prostitution. Hence, prostitutes th
Page 65 and 66: victims. In very few hours, illegal
Page 67 and 68: RECOMMENDATIONS 1.- General recomme
Page 69 and 70: 2.2 Coordination and public campaig
Page 71 and 72: 3.4 Territorial research. A complet
Page 73 and 74: 4.4 Reports. A telephonic service s
Page 75: 1 Assessment of trafficking in pers

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