TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS IN BELIZE - OAS

II. A NEW CRIME
Globalization has brought new communicational opportunities, development
and cultural interchange, but it has also created environments that lead to new
types of crimes and exploitation of human beings. Sometimes, crimes as old as
the hills have regained strength taking advantage of a world that has suddenly
become smaller due to the expansion of communications. In this new frame,
organized crime has developed effective tools to grow, trespassing borders and
legislation and taking advantage of the social crisis that many countries have
had to bear. All kind of criminals- organized and acting alone- have seized the
chance of this sad landscape: great sections of the population in a vulnerable
position (specially young women and children), unstable families that cannot
cope with the economic issues, little or no social services to support them and
obsolete educational systems unable to face new challenges. Promises of a
golden future, offers of well paid jobs, the splendor of developed societies have
been the most common strategies to tempt the victims of this swindle, a swindle
that is one of the most serious problems of our times: human trafficking. It is a
crime that involves thousands of people and it takes place in the middle of
enormous migration flows that nations are unable to stop because it responds
to the very essence of human beings, which is to seek better ways of life. It is
precisely when these great migratory movements are not supported by national
and international measures, that the ideal environment for crime develops.
Human trafficking is an issue of great magnitude because it provokes
devastating effects on its victims, because it involves important crime networks
and generates high levels of corruption to survive.
Estimates state that between 700.000 and 2.000.000 people are victims of this
crime each year. Human trafficking isn’t new, but what can be considered as a
change is its extent in critical contexts that facilitate its growth, make its
detection difficult and generate big profits for the dealers.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, human trafficking
has emerged as a major global issue and has reached epidemic proportions,
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