Belize is showing positive signs against the battle they face on Human Trafficking.
Mrs. Kim Barrow
August 26, 2010
Today is the second day of the first national symposium on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Belize. Representatives from a wide cross section of professionals have convened to look at the situation in the country and to begin work on a national action plan that will specifically address the problem. In his address yesterday, Minister of Human Development and Social Transformation, Eden Martinez made notice of another serious problem that is also closely linked to the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. This is Human Trafficking.
On June 16th, 2010, the Hunting Human Traffickers Organization reported that about one thousand people are trafficked through Belize every month. The HHTO also issued an “Appeal to Stop Human Trafficking in Belize”, a petition urging government to take immediate action on the matter with a focus on prosecuting those who profit from the business, improving immigration policy and practices and strengthening and enforcing liquor license laws.
On June 27th, the Organization for Responsible Tourism released Appeal # 2 on how to stop human trafficking in Belize. Again, the document highlights the importance on strengthening immigration and liquor licensing laws within the country. Minister Martinez says that government is aware of the situation within the country adding that efforts are being made to address the matter.
Eden Martinez; Minister of Human Development and Social Transformation
“There is the committee that deals with human trafficking which is a multi-sectoral committee which involves the Police, Immigration, ministry of human Development, Foreign Affairs and their task is to monitor the human trafficking situations in Belize.
Source http://www.lovefm.com/ndisplay.php?nid=12556
Organizers of National Symposium
The Symposium is featuring four special technical presenters. They are Begona Arellano, Noortje Denkers, Carol Smolenski and Diana Shaw. Arellano is a national of Spain and a Child protection Specialist in UNICEF’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean. She has a Masters Degree in Humanitarian Assistance and Rural Development. Denkers is an expert on children’s rights in the area of child labour and sexual exploitation. She is currently based in Costa Rica as Project Official with the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Smolenski is the Executive Director and one of the founders of End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT-USA). She was the Project Director for the New York City Community Response to Trafficking in New York. She has spoken about the issue at conferences for the New York City Council, United States Congress and the United Nations. Shaw is the Chairperson of the Child Development Foundation of Belize. She is an attorney and she drafted the Legal Information Manual for the Legal Information Bureaus of the Government of Belize/UNDP. She conducted Vulnerability Analysis of the Child Protection System and Juvenile Justice System in Belize for UNICEF.
http://www.guardian.bz/all-news/59-other-news/2237-mrs-kim-barrow-hosts-national-symposium-on-csec
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