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It was big news last month when Belize was upgraded from a Tier 3 human trafficking country to a Tier 2. It certainly is progress but it doesn't mean the authorities can sit back and relax.  

The Ministry of Health along with the International Organization for Migration is taking a proactive approach and is using the upgrade as an incentive to work harder. The team today hosted a 2 day workshop for health practitioners. The purpose of the workshop is for health officials to identify human tracking victims and know how to treat them physically and psychologically. Here's more from the training.

Dr. Julio Sabido - Anti-Trafficking in Persons Council
"The migrant community are affected by trafficking and at times it might be that the health care providers are the only one that would come in contact with that trafficked person. Most of the times the people affected are women and children, not to say that men are not affected but most of the times it's women and children that are affected. This training will help the health care providers who are medical practitioners, nurses, social workers, counsellors, primary care assistance to be able to identify a trafficked or someone who is a victim of trafficking and also the care we need to provide for these people. As I said earlier in the opening remarks, there's a distinction between the definition of a trafficked person and some who is smuggled but nevertheless we still have to provide the care without any type of discrimination for these people. It should be care as you would provide for any Belizean national or any person who seeks health care at a clinic. We shouldn't have to ask what your migratory status is, so that's one of the things. As I said, I think it's opportune, we are looking at in the news we see every day they amount of people gathered at the Mexico-US border, we don't know how many of those people have come through Belize, we don't know if they have people that stayed here but for us it's about providing health services for these victims."

Rosilyn Borland - Sr. Reg. Thematic Specialist, Migrant Protection, IOM
"So this is a good practice training that's come from learning around the world when we work from the health sector with victims of trafficking, so by the time I leave, they should know what to do if they suspect someone might be a victim, who to call and in fact we have a special presentation tomorrow from the ATIPS council to tell them a bit more about how Belize is fighting trafficking and then they'll also learn about how they can work with victims and survivors, so specialized approaches for someone who's already out of the situation."

Reporter
"Can you speak to some of the specific topics that you'll be reviewing with the participants?"

Rosilyn Borland
"Sure, so the course starts with a description of what is human trafficking, sort of what are the elements that people go through then we move into the health impacts, so how it impacts their physical and mental health, the sorts of signs and symptoms that are common for survivors and then we move info specialized approaches with are called trauma informed care approaches. So, how do you work with someone who's lived through this kind of violence and then we talk a bit more about the role about health providers, what they can do, what they can't do because health providers are not police officers, they're not going to go rescue someone but they do have a role to play and then we wind up with some specialized presentations on Belize and some guiding principles."

They have also prepared a "Caring for Trafficked Persons" handbook.