U.S. Dep't of State, 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Belize

BELIZE (Tier 2) The Government of Belize does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period; therefore Belize remained on Tier 2. These achievements included convicting two traffickers and continuing prosecutions of five alleged traffickers, identifying more victims, and increasing investigations. The government cooperated with foreign law enforcement in cases that resulted in arrests and in the conviction of a trafficker, consulted with survivors on anti-trafficking laws and policies, and provided awareness training to liquor licensing board members.

However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. It did not adequately address official complicity in trafficking crimes nor initiate any new prosecutions. The government did not take adequate measures to screen Cuban medical workers, People’s Republic of China (PRC) nationals, or Indian workers for indicators of trafficking. It also did not adequately oversee labor recruitment or train its diplomats.

PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: Implement the anti-trafficking law by vigorously investigating and prosecuting traffickers, including officials allegedly complicit in trafficking crimes, and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms. * Ensure victims are not inappropriately penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. * Consistently apply formal procedures to screen for and identify victims among vulnerable groups, including children at risk of familial trafficking, school children – especially those ages 14 to 16 years – PRC national and Cuban workers, migrant workers, individuals in immigration courts, refugees, and asylum-seekers. * Consistently refer identified victims to services. * Improve monitoring of employment contracts for PRC national and Indian laborers to reduce vulnerability to trafficking. * Hire additional social workers. * Improve coordination between the anti-trafficking Police Unit and the Department of Labor and ensure investigations and victim referrals take place in cases the Labor Department identifies. * Create a national labor recruiter registry and conduct prevention programs with migrant workers. * Strengthen monitoring of alleged traffickers out on bail, reduce court delays for trafficking cases, and enable the courts to function virtually, including video testimony for the victim. * Increase capacity for implementation of, and effectiveness of, the amnesty program to reduce the vulnerability of migrants to trafficking. * Ensure awarded restitution is paid, even in cases where the trafficker is indigent. * Provide adequate funding, including to NGOs, for specialized services for victims. * Ensure labor and liquor license inspectors comply with domestic laws and policies, which require inspections of workplaces and screening for trafficking indicators. * Provide anti-trafficking training for diplomats.

PROSECUTION

The government increased prosecution efforts. The 2013 Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Act (TIP Act) criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking and prescribed penalties of up to eight years’ imprisonment for offenses involving adult victims and up to 12 years’ imprisonment for offenses involving child victims. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with other grave crimes, such as rape. In addition, the 2013 Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (Prohibition) Act (CSEC Act) criminalized various offenses relating to the prostitution of anyone younger than 18.

Under the TIP Act, traffickers who were government officials and diplomats may be imprisoned for up to 15 years and must leave public office. ​​The government drafted anti-trafficking legislation in consultation with NGOs that will amend the existing TIP Act; the draft remains pending. The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Police Unit (A-TIP Police Unit) was the police’s dedicated unit for conducting trafficking investigations and anti-trafficking operations. The A-TIP Police Unit initiated investigations of 20 individuals, 19 for sex trafficking and one for both sex and labor trafficking, compared with 11 individuals, including a police officer, investigated in 2022. The 20 suspects included seven women and 13 men, of whom 16 were Belizeans, two Salvadorans, and two of unknown nationalities.

The government closed nine investigations, four of which were found not to involve trafficking. The government continued investigations initiated in previous years of 20 individuals, compared with 29 individuals in 2022. For the second consecutive year, the government did not initiate any new prosecutions. Authorities continued prosecutions of the same seven traffickers – four for sex trafficking, two for labor trafficking, and one for both sex and labor trafficking (two Guatemalans, one South African, and four Belizeans) – as in 2022.

Authorities prosecuted four defendants under the TIP Act and three defendants under the CSEC Act. Courts released all but one suspected traffickers on bail. Courts convicted two traffickers in 2023, compared to none in 2022. In a case initiated in 2020, a court convicted a Guatemalan man for exploiting a Guatemalan girl in sex trafficking and sentenced him to six years’ imprisonment with two years deducted for time spent on remand.

In February 2024, a court convicted a Guatemalan woman for exploiting a Guatemalan girl in labor trafficking and sentenced her to pay a fine of 10,000 Belizean dollars (BZD) ($5,000), and ordered her to pay the victim 31,698 BZD ($15,849) in restitution for unpaid wages, state care expenses, and emotional distress; the government did not report whether the victim received compensation by the end of the reporting period. The sentencing of a fine without imprisonment did not serve to deter the crime or adequately reflect the nature of the offense. The government previously reported delays in initiating prosecutions and arriving at convictions due to the complexity of ongoing investigations. The government did not report any prosecutions or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes; however, corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes – particularly among lower-level officials who likely facilitated transportation of victims or took bribes to ignore trafficking crimes – remained significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action.

The Director of Public Prosecutions reviewed one investigation initiated in the previous reporting period of an allegedly complicit police officer and authorities continued to investigate two high-ranking retired government officials – a police officer and an immigration officer – for alleged labor trafficking of a Salvadoran while in government service. The government continued to prohibit the practice of off-duty police officers providing security for bars and nightclubs, where commercial sex frequently occurred, to limit police complicity in trafficking crimes in these establishments. The government and NGOs reported no violations of the prohibition during the reporting period. In May 2023, authorities established two checkpoints in strategic areas to screen passengers in vehicles for trafficking indicators; conducted a targeted, intelligence-led joint operation, and joint inspections of eight bars where suspected trafficking occurred; and made routine checks at border areas suspected of trafficking activities.

The TIP Act required all officials to report suspected trafficking cases to the A-TIP Police Unit for investigation. The A-TIP Police Unit had eight designated officers, including two women who conducted screenings of potential female victims, and coordinated its trafficking investigations with officials from the Immigration Department, the Ministry of Human Development (MHD) and its associated departments, the Social Security Board, and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The government reported all investigators and social workers were trained in Spanish; in addition, A-TIP Police and social workers used the services of trusted Mandarin and Hindi translators. A-TIP Police Unit SOPs required agents to accompany immigration officers when conducting operations to counter suspected trafficking.

The Department of Human Services (DHS), the Immigration Department, the Belize Police Department (BPD), and an international organization referred cases to the A-TIP Police Unit for investigation. The police cyber unit investigated suspicious online job advertisements and contacted the A-TIP Police Unit if it identified trafficking indicators but reported no investigations found trafficking indicators. The A-TIP Police Unit had an ongoing partnership with an international NGO to provide office space, a dedicated vehicle, and ongoing technical investigative assistance with trafficking cases; the office space provided a secure, private, and non-threatening location for interviewing victims and witnesses of trafficking, collecting evidence, and planning operations. Law enforcement authorities lacked equipment and personnel to adequately pursue trafficking investigations.

The A-TIP Police Unit referred cases to an office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for prosecution. The Inferior Court initiated procedures in all trafficking cases, which were then sent directly to be tried by the High Court. One High Court Justice specialized in trafficking cases. The A-TIP Police Unit reported courts had adequate resources for the number of cases processed; other observers noted the justice system was inefficient and lacked personnel, including judges.

The judicial sector lacked the capacity and resources to hear cases virtually. The A-TIP Police Unit trained defense officials, immigration officials, police, and social workers on the anti-trafficking law and victim indicators. Observers noted reports from officials, international organizations, and potential victims of potential familial trafficking cases increased, with one confirmed child victim and two potential victims of other crimes, possibly as the result of better training for officials and public awareness campaigns. Authorities cooperated with foreign law enforcement, including in cases that resulted in the identification of victims, arrests of suspected traffickers, and in a conviction.

PROTECTION

The government maintained efforts to protect victims. Authorities initially identified 17 confirmed sex trafficking victims, including 16 exploited for sex and one for unspecified exploitation, along with one potential victim exploited in child pornography, compared with seven confirmed victims identified in 2022. The 18 confirmed and potential victims included four women (one Belizean, one Salvadoran and two Nicaraguans) and 14 girls (11 Belizeans, one Honduran, and two Guatemalans). NGOs initially identified an additional three potential victims, a Belizean woman exploited for sex and labor who was subsequently confirmed as a victim by the government and two Belizean boys exploited in child pornography; the government investigated their case in part to determine if their exploitation included elements of trafficking.

NGOs reported the government did not have the capacity to formally identify all potential victims, and the government’s statistics therefore likely did not include all victims. The A-TIP Police Unit screened 210 Belizean, Brazilian, PRC national, Ecuadorian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Nicaraguan, Turkish, and Colombian individuals for trafficking indicators, compared to 295 individuals screened in the previous reporting period. Observers previously noted front-line workers disproportionately focused on screening foreign potential victims; however, authorities reported continuing to include establishments with Belizean workers – such as bakeries, breweries, and restaurants – as part of their inspections and law enforcement actions. The government referred all 21 confirmed and potential victims to initial government services, the same as in the previous reporting period, per SOPs.

Authorities repatriated four foreign victims to their countries of origin upon their request, the same number repatriated in the previous reporting period. The government continues to provide services to 10 victims from current and previous reporting periods. The A-TIP Police Unit coordinated with the Immigration Department, Public Health Department, and MHD when planning operations to ensure services were available to potential victims. SOPs for police, immigration officers, and social workers addressed screening for trafficking indicators, victim interviews, victim health screening, quarantine procedures, and removal of victims from trafficking situations.

The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Council (A-TIP Council) and DHS regularly reviewed and updated the SOPs with assistance from an NGO and input from victims. The government also implemented identification and referral guidelines for front-line police, immigration, and customs officers, along with medical personnel, social workers, and private companies offering essential services. NGOs reported officials largely implemented the SOPs and guidelines effectively; however, the government did not effectively screen all migrants. Officials in remote districts in particular utilized these procedures.

The government screened individuals for trafficking indicators at the airport, and the Immigration Department and the BPD monitored border areas for potential victims. Officials used the 2021 Protocols for Accompanied and Unaccompanied Migrant Children to refer migrant children, some of whom may have been trafficking victims, to appropriate authorities for care. Victims’ fear of detention or deportation may have contributed to their reluctance to report trafficking to law enforcement officers. Authorities contacted relevant embassies for potential consular services for foreign victims.

Victims identified during the screening process could also apply for refugee status; the government did not report any victims doing so. The government did not report screening Cuban government-affiliated medical professionals in the country for trafficking indicators. The government had an agreement with the Cuban government to repatriate Cubans in an undocumented status, even those seeking asylum, including potential trafficking victims. Law enforcement, immigration, and social services personnel also did not effectively screen PRC national or Indian workers potentially in situations of indentured servitude for trafficking indicators.

The government provided foreign trafficking victims with the same services as domestic victims. The government referred adult victims and their families to DHS’s Trafficking in Persons Care Unit; authorities referred unaccompanied children to the Child Protection System. DHS and MHD, which had a trafficking unit, were responsible for providing victims with trauma-informed care. DHS received referrals from hospitals, the Immigration Department, the BPD, human services offices, and anonymous calls.

DHS and MHD provided housing, basic necessities, medical care, and counseling to identified victims. The government could also provide independent living support, education and skills training, child care supplies, legal assistance, assistance to regularize migration status, connection to repatriation assistance from an international organization, recreation, art therapy, transportation to and from court proceedings, and other specialized services. The government covered the costs for all of these services, apart from repatriation, provided through the duration of criminal proceedings and as part of the re-integration process. The government reported it was trying to hire up to 50 social workers to assist victims but currently only have two; this number is not sufficient to meet victim needs.

The government reported that, because of the scarcity of mental health services in the public system, private providers delivered medical and counseling services. DHS could procure subsidized services for individuals with disabilities; the government did not report using this service. Authorities provided victims with protective custody if needed. Authorities placed child victims in the government-funded foster care system or a group home, or reunited the child with family members if the case did not involve familial trafficking.

The government managed the operations of an NGO-owned shelter for migrant children, including trafficking victims, with the support of an international organization. Female child migrant victims ages 16-17 years could also stay in one of the NGO shelters for adult women. Although the TIP Act prohibited criminal liability for immigration-related or other criminal offences committed as a direct result of being trafficked, some children may have been held in pre-trial detention for gang-related crimes they were forced to commit. In such circumstances, the government reported providing counseling and rehabilitation services to the child, and, if the child was identified as a victim during preliminary hearings, the government would place the child under state protection and provide additional counseling and rehabilitation and reintegration services.

The government did not fund or operate any shelters for adult victims. NGOs operated two shelters for women, one of which could accommodate up to 30 migrant women and their infant children up to six months old. The shelters were available for potential and confirmed victims on an emergency basis; confirmed victims who chose not to be repatriated could remain for more than six months. MHD also had arrangements with an NGO to shelter male victims; the government did not report any male victims using the shelter.

Observers noted other shelters were unwilling to receive male victims because, in the past, gang-affiliated trafficking victims became violent; observers had no reports of male trafficking victims going without shelter or services. Adult victims could also choose to live independently in arrangements the government approved as safe and receive government services. The government allocated 200,000 BZD ($100,000) for victim assistance, compared with 136,000 BZD ($68,000) in the previous reporting period. This amount covered victim services, transportation, funding for the child migrant shelter, and other operational funds.

The government reported that it supported and encouraged victim participation in investigations and in the prosecution of their traffickers and did not limit the time protection services were available nor make them conditional upon victim cooperation with law enforcement; services extended beyond the disposition of legal cases. The government took extensive steps to protect victim-witnesses during trials. Eighteen victim-witnesses cooperated with new or ongoing investigations or prosecutions of traffickers. Victims could provide written statements for evidence.

Victims could move freely about the country or leave while trials were pending. Courts could order restitution, and victims could seek compensation if a case resulted in conviction; however, no victims were awarded restitution or compensation. Foreign victims could receive temporary residency status with the possibility for citizenship and work permits regardless of their cooperation with investigations or prosecutions; the government reported no victims applied for a work permit. The government had not issued residency permits to four trafficking victims whom DHS had assisted in the previous reporting period with applying for protection under an amnesty program.

Observers noted the law did not provide refugees in the asylum application process or undocumented migrants with work permits and that traffickers took advantage of this to threaten victims with deportation. NGOs reported the government arrested and deported individuals for immigration offenses without screening them for trafficking; some of these individuals may have been victims of trafficking and inappropriately punished for unlawful acts committed as a result of being trafficked. NGOs recommended lower court magistrates require screening before hearing immigration cases.

PREVENTION

The government increased its prevention efforts. The A-TIP Council coordinated the government’s anti-trafficking efforts. The Chief Executive Officer of MHD chaired the Council while serving simultaneously in several other official positions because of personnel and resource limitations. The A-TIP Council was composed of key ministries and two NGOs.

The Council held two meetings, and its committees met multiple times. Observers noted the A-TIP Council had developed into an effective policymaking and administrative agency. The government continued to implement and fund the 2021-2023 NAP. The A-TIP Council drafted and reviewed a new NAP for 2024-2028 but did not finalize it.

The government approved the budget for the A-TIP Council in the amount of 403,098 BZD ($201,549) for the fiscal year April 2024 – March 2025, compared to 558,000 BZD ($279,000) allocated for the previous fiscal year. Of available funding, 240,500 BZD ($120,250) went to the A-TIP Council, 100,000 BZD ($50,000) to the NAP, 20,416 BZD ($10,208) to prevention activities, and 120,085 BZD ($60,042) to administrative costs. Funding for each department’s anti-trafficking activities and victim assistance came out of the national budget. The A-TIP Council’s Focal Point, which served as an interagency coordinator and manager, systematically documented the government’s efforts on human trafficking in the areas of prevention, prosecution, protection, and partnerships and maintained an associated database.

The A-TIP Council partnered with an NGO and an international donor on a pilot project in one city to enhance anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts and interagency collaboration. The A-TIP Council continued to publish and make available to the public an annual infographic on trafficking dynamics in the country. In February 2024, the government held an awareness session with six members of parliament. The government also conducted various awareness-raising events in person and through traditional and social media in cooperation with NGOs and international organizations.

The government made awareness-raising materials available in English and Spanish at no cost. The A-TIP Council served as subject matter experts to ensure awareness materials did not legitimize or perpetuate harmful or racialized narratives about what victims, survivors, and perpetrators looked like and requested survivors and mental health practitioners validate the materials. The government did not operate or fund a trafficking hotline but could receive reports from a general crimestoppers hotline, website, or application. The police did not report any investigations resulting from these methods, compared with three trafficking investigations in the previous reporting period.

An amnesty program created in the previous reporting period could reduce the trafficking vulnerability for up to 40,000 migrants if applications were approved. As of February 7, 2024, the government and an international organization reported 13,500 migrants (including at least four trafficking victims) had applied, of which the government approved 99 applications and denied two. DHS provided care for the four trafficking victims while the government processed their applications, which remained pending at the close of the reporting period. The government’s process for reviewing applications under the program was delayed by security checks.

In addition, documentation among many observers stated a significant segment of the undocumented migrant population did not take advantage of the amnesty program because they were not made aware of the program in time to apply or because of the prohibitive financial burden, as the cost to process one application was estimated to be 1,500 BZD ($750) for a criminal record, a full medical exam, and a legal form of identification from their country of origin—as many migrants lacked the proper documentation to apply. After the end of the program, observers noted undocumented migrants would no longer enjoy the ease of adjusting their status under the current program criteria; trafficking victims, however, would continue to have the option to apply for residency as stipulated in the TIP Act. The government implemented a law passed at the end of the previous reporting period reinstituting visa requirements for Haitians and adding new documentation for Jamaicans because of increased concerns about human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The legislature continued to review legislation to change the mandatory school attendance age from 14 to 16 years, which could help protect children from becoming trafficking victims.

The government reported implementing measures to prohibit and prevent trafficking in the supply chains of its own public procurement through regular inspections of its private-sector partners. The Labor Department, in collaboration with other agencies, drafted a labor and migrant workers policy that was awaiting cabinet approval at the end of the reporting period; the policy would address gaps in the system to verify the existence of employment opportunities in the service industry as traffickers often use false promised of employment to lure potential victims. The government banned worker-paid recruitment fees and the law provided for fair recruitment practices and safeguarding of wages paid to the employee. Despite a labor code requirement that labor recruiters register with a national labor recruiter registry, the Labor Department – which implemented policy – lacked such a registry.

The A-TIP Council provided pamphlets to NGOs and international organizations on labor rights and trafficking indicators for distribution in the communities they served. Belize Trade and Investment Development Services, the government’s trade promotion agency, provided training to entrepreneurs and small businesses on labor rights and labor trafficking. The Ministry of Labor, in charge of policy development, maintained an online system to facilitate labor complaints but did not receive any. The A-TIP Council, the MHD, and several NGOs and civil society partners conducted outreach in English and Spanish to migrant workers vulnerable to trafficking to advise them of their rights.

Foreign workers had to obtain a work permit from the Employment Permit Committee before they engaged in any form of paid work; this body included a social worker responsible for identifying vulnerable groups or individuals. The government began to design a seasonal migrant temporary work permit program focused on the agricultural sector in cooperation with two international organizations and a foreign government, which aimed to minimize the risk of trafficking in the issuance of temporary work permits; however, this program was not implemented. The law did not require migrant workers to obtain permission to change employers. The government created a new online system for employers to apply for temporary employment permits.

Employers were required to notify the Labor Department when a worker’s employment ended, after which a new employer could apply for a permit for the worker. A temporary employment policy excluded foreign workers from certain job positions that were especially at risk for trafficking, including bar and nightclub waitresses, cooks, common laborers, small business clerks and managerial staff, waitresses in other establishments, security guards, domestic workers, caregivers, and construction helpers. Observers noted the government did not adequately monitor labor contracts for PRC national and Indian workers who arrive legally in the country but may be later exploited in forced labor. The Ministry of Labor trained front-line workers on child labor and conducted several child labor inspections with a specific focus on the agricultural sector; observers previously noted many members of vulnerable communities were employed in agriculture and other informal sectors in rural areas that often fell outside the geographical area monitored by the A-TIP Police Unit and in these areas, labor inspectors were relied upon to identify trafficking.

The Labor Department employed 24 inspectors and conducted 845 inspections in 2023, in cooperation with other government agencies during which employers were advised of their responsibilities under the TIP Act and employees were advised of their rights. Although the government reported the number of inspectors was adequate, observers reported a shortage of qualified personnel, vehicles, fuel, and operating funds to conduct adequate inspections to identify labor violations, including potential trafficking victims. The government provided trafficking awareness training to liquor licensing board officials across the country. Previous reports indicated liquor licensing boards routinely failed to conduct inspections of restaurants where commercial sex, including potential sex and labor trafficking crimes, allegedly took place.

Observers noted this was largely to avoid having to open investigations into alleged exploitation, including trafficking. The government raised awareness on child and forced labor through a media and school campaign for students, teachers, parents, and community leaders; on billboards; and through educational sessions for workers and employees. In partnership with an international organization, the government conducted training with the staff of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center headquartered in the country and included climate-specific activities in the drafted 2024-2028 NAP. The government became a member of the Regional Initiative for Latin American and the Caribbean Free of Child Labor in May 2023 and was a party to several other treaties that upheld workers’ rights.

The government made efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts, including criminalizing elements such as loitering, soliciting, and procuring. The law allowed for Belizean citizens to be tried for trafficking and extraterritorial child commercial sexual exploitation and abuse crimes committed abroad; the government did not report investigating any cases of extraterritorial child sexual commercial exploitation. The government sponsored billboards to combat extraterritorial child sexual commercial exploitation at the international airport and border-crossing points. The government participated in a bilateral program to identify and deny tourist entry to registered sex offenders.

The government did not provide anti-trafficking training to its diplomatic personnel. TRAFFICKING PROFILE: As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Belize, and traffickers exploit victims from Belize abroad. The country’s reliance on the tourism and agricultural sectors, proximity to the United States, and weak security and police forces relative to neighboring countries all increase human trafficking vulnerability. Groups considered most at risk for trafficking in Belize include women, children, migrants, those experiencing economic difficulties, including pandemic-related unemployment, agricultural workers, and LGBTQI+ persons.

Sex traffickers exploit Belizean and foreign adults, girls, and LGBTQI+ persons, primarily from Central America, in bars, nightclubs, hotels, and brothels. During the pandemic, sex trafficking mostly moved to more tightly controlled, illegal brothels rather than bars and clubs – which were closed from March 2020 to March 2022 – and involved a network of taxi operators who provided a connection between those involved in commercial sex and patrons; the change made reporting more difficult as the commercial sex trade moved further underground, into private residences. Trafficking returned to bars and clubs after the pandemic. Tourism-related industries lure workers through the offer of legitimate service jobs and exploit them in sex trafficking.

These illicit operations are typically small in scale and unconnected to organized transnational trafficking networks. Family members facilitate the sex trafficking of Belizean women and girls, including through an arrangement where a wealthy male will offer payment or gifts to a family in exchange for sex from a young, usually female, family member. This practice includes Guatemalan victims unable to pay school fees in Belize. Gang members and other criminals coerce or force children, especially boys ages 10 to 15 years, to transport firearms and ammunition as well as sell narcotics; in some cases, boys are reportedly compelled to participate in the killing of rival gang members.

Although many victims in the country are Belizean, foreign adults – particularly from Central America, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, and Asia – migrate to or transit Belize en route to the United States in search of work, and traffickers often exploit victims using false promises of relatively high paying jobs or take advantage of migrants’ illegal status to exploit them in forced labor in restaurants, bars, shops, domestic work, and agriculture. Migrant girls are also exploited in sex trafficking, sometimes by family members, and migrant boys are exploited in labor trafficking, especially in agriculture. The law does not allow asylum-seekers to obtain work permits, placing them at constant threat of deportation that may increase their vulnerability to trafficking. Observers note labor trafficking disproportionately affects women.

PRC nationals and Indians may be exploited in Belize in domestic service and indentured servitude. PRC nationals may be vulnerable to forced labor on fishing vessels registered in Belize. PRC nationals working in construction in Belize, during previous reporting periods, may have been forced to work, even by PRC-affiliated enterprises. In 2023, there were 117 Cuban government-affiliated medical workers in Belize.

Participants of this program in Belize reported having control of their passports; however, the Belizean government paid the workers only a portion of their salaries and paid the rest directly to the Cuban government. Cuban government-affiliated medical professionals in Belize may be forced to work by the Cuban government. In tourist regions, foreign perpetrators of extraterritorial commercial child sexual exploitation and abuse, primarily from the United States, exploit child sex trafficking victims. NGOs report some police and immigration officers take bribes in return for ignoring trafficking, facilitating illegal entries, failing to report suspected victims and perpetrators, and failing to act on reported cases under their jurisdiction.

The government did not report investigation allegations reported in a previous reporting period of allegedly corrupt immigration officials selling illegal passports. On This Page search > < BELIZE (Tier 2) PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS: PROSECUTION PROTECTION PREVENTION TRAFFICKING PROFILE: Tags Belize Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Human Trafficking Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Reports