BELIZE BECOMES EARLY MEMBER TO THE LATIN AMERICAN

UNCLAS BELIZE 000379 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CEN - JASON MACK DEPT FOR WHA/PPC - MICHAEL PUCCETTI DEPT FOR INL/GTIP - LINDA BROWN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM SOCI PGOV PREL PINR KWMN BH SUBJECT: BELIZE BECOMES EARLY MEMBER TO THE LATIN AMERICAN NETWORK FOR MISSING PERSONS ¶1. SUMMARY. On April 26, Prime Minister the Right Honorable Said Musa and Regional Representative of Save the Children - Sweden Per Tamm signed an agreement to implement Belizean cooperation in the Latin American Network for Missing persons (aka Red Latinoamericanos Desaparecidos). The signing ceremony received wide media coverage and participation by the highest levels of the Belizean Government. Belize is the eighth country in the Americas to sign on. According to Tamm, Mexico is expected to sign soon, and Puerto Rico and Brazil are expected to sign later in the year. The URL for Belize is www.missingbelizeans.org. END SUMMARY ¶2. Head Representatives from the Ministry of Human Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Police, Immigration, Customs, Supreme Court and the Anglican Church attended an impressive presentation of the Latinoamericanos Desaparecidos on-line network, which was made possible with Organization of American States (OAS) assistance. The Prime Minister's address reinforced the mantra that Belize does not tolerate trafficking and "(will) not be a haven for those that exploit others" as well as emphasizing the national necessity to protect those that are open to exploitation. In her closing address, Acting Commissioner of Police Maureen Leslie informed observers that police coordination would be at the forefront of making the program successful and directly pointed out the responsible party for the network in Belize. Responsible party, Officer Kotch, has already posted the pictures of six missing Belizeans and one found boy, of unknown origins. ¶3. NOTE. In a January meeting with Ambassador Robert J. Dieter and EmbOffs, Belizean Ambassador to the U.S. & OAS Lisa Shoman and Belizean Special Envoy for Trafficking in Persons (TIP),Ambassador & Senator Dolores Balderamos- Garcia, mentioned that they were putting forth this initiative to become part of the regional effort to combat TIP and exploitation of children through OAS channels. END NOTE. ¶4. Post POC for Trafficking and Human Rights issues is POLOFF Brian S. DaRin, email: darinbs@state.gov; Tel: 011- 501-227-7161 ext. 205 DIETER