BELIZE - EIGHTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BELMOPAN 000148

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR G/TIP (FLECK),G, INL, PRM DEPT FOR WHA/PPC (PUCCETTI),
WHA/CEN (BEAL) GUATEMALA FOR USAID

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB BH
SUBJECT: BELIZE - EIGHTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) REPORT
(PART TWO OF THREE)

REF: A) STATE 02731, B) 06 BELIZE 673

This cable is sensitive but unclassified.


3. (SBU) Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers


A. No new anti-trafficking legislation was enacted during the
reporting period. The Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Act
was enacted on June 23, 2003 and came into force on August 1, 2003.
The law prohibits both sexual and non-sexual (including forced labor
and the illicit removal of human organs) forms of trafficking.
Because the Act also includes the text of the Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and
Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime, it covers both national and
transnational forms of trafficking.

Belize laws prohibiting trafficking in persons include:

Under the Criminal Code: carnal knowledge; rape; procurement;
defilement by force or fraud or administration of drugs; assault and
battery; unlawful imprisonment; child stealing; abduction;
kidnapping; and forcible marriage.

Under the Labor Act: prohibition of forced labor; employment of
women and children; and prohibition of night work.

Under the Families and Children Act: child abuse; child neglect; and
harmful employment.

Under the Summary Jurisdiction (Offenses) Act: loitering for
prostitution; keeping a brothel; and trading on prostitution.

Laws that allow civil penalties against trafficking crimes include:


The Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Act - restitution; The Act
- fines; The Intoxicating Liquor Licenses (Amendment) Act -
forfeiture of license; The Immigration Act - forfeiture of vehicle,
vessel or aircraft; payment of costs of sending the victim outside
of Belize; The Families and Children Act; The Summary Jurisdiction
(Offenses) Act - determination of tenancy; and The Indictable
Procedure Act - divesting of guardianship or custody.


B. Under the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Act, an
individual convicted of trafficking in persons for sexual
exploitation can receive between one and five years in prison and/or
a fine of USD $5,000. In addition, an individual convicted of
transporting a person for the purpose of exploiting such person as a
prostitute can receive a prison sentence of not less than three
years. Further, the prison term may be extended to eight years when
the number of persons transported exceeds five, when the persons
transported include children, or when the transportation is part of
the activity of a gang or organized criminal network.


C. The Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Act also prescribes and
imposes penalties for labor trafficking offenses. The Act defines
labor exploitation as: keeping a person in a state of slavery;
subjecting a person to practices similar to slavery; compelling or
causing a person to provide forced labor or services; or keeping a
person in a state of servitude, including sexual servitude. The Act
also provides for criminal punishment against any person who acts or
purports to act as another's employer, manager, supervisor,
contractor, employment agency or solicitor of clients and knowingly
procures, destroys, conceals, removes, confiscates, or possesses any
passport, birth certificate, immigration document or other
governmental document belonging to another person.


D. Rape - including marital rape - carries a penalty of eight years
to life imprisonment. Life imprisonment is mandated for habitual
sex offenders. (Note: the majority of rape convictions result in
penalties far less than life imprisonment. End note). The Criminal
Code of Belize does not define sexual assault, but categorizes any
such assaults as aggravated assault, the penalty for which is two
years imprisonment. The law further states that an indecent
aggravated assault upon a female, or child results in a three year
sentence.


E. The act of prostitution itself is neither legal nor illegal
under Belize law. The government considers prostitution immoral but
has yet to take steps to directly address it in the Criminal Code.

BELMOPAN 00000148 002 OF 004


Other activities on the periphery of prostitution are illegal. For
example, loitering by a common prostitute in any street or public
place for the purpose of prostitution is illegal. On a first
offense, a person can be fined no more than $200 or imprisoned for
up to two months. Second and subsequent offenses result in fines of
up to $400 or imprisonment of up to six months. In addition, the
Summary Jurisdiction (Offenses) Act states that it is illegal to
own, manage, assist in the management of, or act as a tenant, lessee
or occupier of a brothel. First-time offenses are punishable by up
to six months in jail or a $500 fine; for second offenses the
penalties are doubled. Further, the law states that it is illegal
for any male person to: knowingly live wholly or in part on the
earnings of prostitution; persistently solicit or importune for
immoral purposes; or loiter about or importune a person in any
street or other place for the purposes of prostitution. A first
offense results in a fine of up to $100 or six months in jail;
second and subsequent offenses result in up to twelve months in
jail. Finally, Section 49 of the Criminal Code states that any
person who procures or attempts to procure any female under the age
of eighteen years of age, not being a common prostitute or of known
immoral character, to have unlawful carnal knowledge either within
or without Belize any other person or persons has committed an
offense. The Code does not explain what constitutes immoral
character. (Note: unlawful carnal knowledge is defined as sexual
relations with a female child between the ages of 14 and 16. End
note). An individual convicted of these charges faces five years
imprisonment.


F. There were no successful prosecutions against traffickers during
the reporting period. A case against a bar owner in Corozal in
which a 19-year-old Guatemalan woman was hired to work in a
restaurant but after arriving, was asked repeatedly to sexually
satisfy male patrons was dismissed - the victim and witnesses had
left the country and could not be located. (Ref B) Trafficking was
suspected in a case of a Honduran minor found in a bar in Dangriga.
She was given temporary residence status by the immigration
department pending investigation and was subsequently repatriated to
Honduras through the Honduran Embassy. No charges were filed. A
case of a man arrested and charged in October 2007 with trafficking
a minor found in his bar without her own travel documents is still
pending. A case of two police officers facing several counts of
trafficking after a brothel was raided in Corozal is pending final
adjournment on March 31, 2008. Nine Salvadorans were determined by
the police and immigration to be smuggled into Belize after a
traffic accident placed some of them in the hospital. The "victims"
were charged with illegal entry and deported. In January 2008,
Nepalese construction workers employed to construct a dam alleged
that their passports are being withheld by their employer. The
police and immigration are inspecting the site to make a
determination. Officials note that the case is being investigated.


UNICEF has described the country's judicial system as a "black
hole", noting that TIP cases - along with rape and sexual abuse
cases - are rarely prosecuted successfully. The majority of Supreme
Court criminal cases involving sexual offenses resulted in
acquittals or "nolle prosequi" (the prosecutor declines to proceed).
One notable difficulty in prosecuting trafficking cases is the
unwillingness of victims and witnesses to come forward to testify.
Without their testimony, prosecutors have little evidence to pursue
a case.

The Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Act requires the
prosecution of labor trafficking offenses such as the confiscation
of workers' travel documents, the switching of contracts or
employment terms without the worker's consent, the use of physical
or sexual abuse or the threat of such abuse to keep workers in a
state of service, or the withholding of salary as a means to keep
workers in a state of service. According to the law, convicted
traffickers must serve their entire sentence.

There is no reliable information pointing to who is behind
trafficking in Belize. Anecdotal evidence suggests that most are
freelance operators or members of a loose network of taxi drivers
and brothel owners. There is no evidence of employment, travel, or
tourism agencies or marriage brokers fronting for traffickers. Post
does monitor terrorism financing and money laundering, but to date
we have no information about where TIP profits are being channeled.



G. Investigations are coordinated by the Anti-Trafficking in

BELMOPAN 00000148 003 OF 004


Persons Committee. The Committee uses a tripartite approach: all
trafficking investigations involve police, immigration officials,
and social workers.

During the reporting period the government, in conjunction with the
Anti-Trafficking in Persons Committee and a number of NGOs and
international organizations including the U.S. Government, offered
specialized training to government officials in how to recognize,
investigate, and prosecute trafficking. For example, the government
offered training to magistrates and crown counsels, police and
immigration officials on TIP legislation, identification of the
elements of trafficking, and investigative and prosecution
techniques.

During the year the Chairperson of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons
Committee and a consultant conducted sensitization sessions on
trafficking. The program targeted police, customs officials, labor
officers, immigration officers and social workers In February the
Organization of American States (OAS) sponsored a two day meeting in
Jamaica where Trafficking was an item on the agenda. The
Chairperson, the Director of Immigration and a representative from
Ministry of Foreign Affairs attended. In October, the OAS) also
sponsored a meeting in Guatemala City for parliamentarians. The
purpose of the meeting was to discuss and review the model of
anti-trafficking legislation in the region.


H. The government of Belize does cooperate with other governments
on trafficking issues, including the investigation and prosecution
of trafficking cases. Staff of the Ministry of Human Development
represented the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Committee at an IDB
sponsored workshop in Guatemala in April 2007. The workshop was
entitled "The Construction of a regional Public Good in the Area of
Human Trafficking." Belize was also represented at the meeting of
Regional Conference on Migration in April 2007, in New Orleans by
the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs along with the
Director of Immigration. The Government also co-sponsored a
resolution at the OAS General Assembly in June 2007 which was aimed
at exploring the possibility of establishing a Multilateral
Evaluation Mechanism to assess countries' efforts in the hemisphere
to combat trafficking in persons. The Government of Belize
recognizes that trafficking in persons is a transnational crime and
effective action to prevent and combat trafficking requires
cooperation among governments. Belize has cooperated with Honduras,
Guatemala and Mexico in the investigation of trafficking cases.
Belize stands ready to cooperate with any requesting government in
the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases in accordance
with the laws of Belize. It should also be noted that there are
several mechanisms in place to facilitate cooperation including a
Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between Belize and the United States,
the Central American Regional Security Strategy, and the Regional
Conference on Migration. The Government is not aware of any request
for cooperation from a foreign government. I. The government will
extradite persons when an extradition treaty exists between Belize
and the requesting state. The treaty between the United States and
Belize lists trafficking in persons as an extraditable offense.
According to the government of Belize, to date no state with which
Belize has an extradition treaty has requested the extradition of a
suspected trafficker. Belizean nationals are also subject to
extradition for certain offenses, including trafficking in persons.



J. The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Committee has made great strides
in organizing and providing training to immigration officials,
police, and social workers. The Minister and Chief Executive
Officer of Human Development have spoken out often against these
crimes and raised public awareness. However, there are still
lingering signs of alleged police involvement as demonstrated in the
case of two police officers facing charges of trafficking in
Corozal. For several years, despite the efforts of the
Anti-Trafficking Committee, no one has been prosecuted for
trafficking though the government, the police, and social workers
acknowledge the presence of trafficking in Belize.


K. To Post's knowledge, there have been no government
investigations into allegations of official corruption or tolerance
of trafficking, nor have there been any prosecutions or convictions.



L. Also, Belize does not have any military troops assigned abroad
so there has been no incidence of military troop overseas being
involved in trafficking.

BELMOPAN 00000148 004 OF 004



During the year 2007, the Government of Belize did not prosecute or
deport any foreign pedophile. Likewise there was no other national
charged with such offence. During 2007, four American fugitives were
returned to various states in the U.S. to face outstanding warrants
for sex crimes.


M. Although Belize has not been identified as a sex tourism
destination, the potential exists and the November 2006 release of
the report (sponsored by the International Labor Office's
International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor) on the
commercial sexual exploitation of children in Belize supports this.
The government supported the drafting of a code of conduct to
protect children from sexual exploitation in the tourist and travel
industries.

The government has signed or ratified the following international
instruments:

- ILO Convention 182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate
Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor:
ratified March 6, 2000

- ILO Convention 29 and 105 on Forced or Compulsory Labor: both
ratified on December 15, 1983

- The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC) on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child
Pornography: ratified on December 1, 2003

- The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN
Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime: acceded September
26, 2003.
HILL