7 News Belize

Donald Trump Sends Stern Message to Belize on Human Trafficking Laws
posted (November 29, 2018)

Belize continues to be ranked as a tier three human trafficking nation by the US, and US President Donald Trump sent a powerful and angry message to the Barrow Administration today: no more non-humanitarian, non-trade-related assistance to Belize until it makes what the US deems to be significant efforts to comply with US Trafficking in Persons regulations.

The decision is contained in a Memorandum for the Secretary of State from President Donald Trump.  It is dated today and is posted on the White House website.  

The decision also targets 16 other countries, and the list includes only 3 countries in the America’s: Belize, Bolivia, and Venezuela.  It extends for Fiscal Year 2019, quote “until such governments comply with the minimum standards or make significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

But, there is a small carve - out for Belize.  While President Trump’s directive to the Secretary of State instructs the United States Executive Director of each multilateral development bank, and of the International Monetary Fund to vote against and use best efforts to deny any loan or other utilization of the funds for the Governments all the other countries on the list, except Belize.  

Trump’s memo says, quote, “I determine that a partial waiver to allow International Military Education and Training, Foreign Military Financing, and Foreign Military Sales related…with respect to Belize would promote the purposes of the Act or is otherwise in the national interest of the United States…” End quote. 

Attorney General, Mike Peyrefitte who was been to Washington to lobby the State Department on this issue told us today via text, quote, “I am not surprised. The US has made it clear to the world that they are moving towards a strict Nationalist agenda. They will cut aid wherever they can and just create a reason.” End quote.  He added that Belize has been taking human trafficking seriously but just had not had arrests and convictions to satisfy the US.  Peyrefitte said, quote, “We have done all we could do in my view. They want arrests and jail for people but we can’t manufacture cases. We can’t charge people just for the sake of charging them and we can’t then instruct judges to find people guilty.” End quote.

We note that one major issue for the US has also been the fact that special duty police are hired to work as security at establishments where bar girls often double as commercial sex workers.  This - in the view of the US - makes the lawmen complicit in human trafficking related to the sex trade. 

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