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TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS IN BELIZE - OAS

TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS IN BELIZE - OAS

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go elsewhere: nearby flats, hotels or the client’s own house, because very few<br />

of this them have their own bedrooms.<br />

There are many of these places in the south zone of the city- Copacabana, A<br />

touch of class, Las Gemelas- that with only looking at them it is easy to say that<br />

they are not just pubs or restaurants, even though in some of them food is<br />

served.<br />

Sources pointed out that recently the number of these locals has diminished. As<br />

prostitution is illegal, sanitary authorities don’t control the women that work in<br />

them. However, everybody knows that prostitution takes place there.<br />

Estimations point out that in July the city had twenty of these locations, many of<br />

them with very modest facilities.<br />

There are also other kind of prostitution services aimed at higher class tourism<br />

and wealthier Belizeans. The Garden Rose, for example, is a big wooden house<br />

built up on the Northern Highway that connects the city with the airport. From<br />

early in the afternoon until dawn, twenty women participate in nude-shows. The<br />

bar and the tables are also there and they can also be used as a place of make<br />

contact.<br />

Sources said that women live there, where there are bedrooms for their<br />

encounters with clients and that most of them are foreigners, fundamentally<br />

from Central America. Many of them stay for a while and, when they go away,<br />

they leave their place to a just arrived friend. It is said that there are no children<br />

working there and that women working there do so at their own will and are free<br />

to leave whenever they wish.<br />

Another place considered as “risky” in relation to human trafficking is the Hotel<br />

Princess, a huge resort hotel with casino, movie center and shopping located at<br />

the sea side. In a meeting that took place in August 26 , many people that are<br />

related to migratory matters and work against human trafficking, pointed out that<br />

there have been reports on prostitution and on foreign women that where kept<br />

42

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