C S E C The Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/childprostitution/Belize.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of child prostitution are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring how children got started, how they survive, and
how some succeed in leaving. Perhaps
your paper could focus on runaways and the abuse that led to their
leaving. Other factors of interest
might be poverty, rejection, drug dependence, coercion, violence, addiction,
hunger, neglect, etc. On the other hand,
you might choose to write about the manipulative and dangerous adults who
control this activity. There is a lot
to the subject of Child Prostitution.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. HELP for Victims Local
Crime Stoppers ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Officials act
against sexual exploitation by tourists Jacqueline Godwin reporting,
News-5 Channel-5 Belize, August 03, 2006 channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=16761 [accessed 6 April
2011] JACQUELINE GODWIN,
REPORTING
- Hit me on the Hips is no new dance craze. The phrase refers to the latest
practice of high school girls being text messaged on their cell phones. The
reason? Sex with tourists. The interested visitor arrives in the country
makes contact with a taxi driver who then sends the text message to the girl
at school. As dramatized in this advertisement from Youth Enhancement
Services the student then illness to leave class. ANDREW GODOY - They get sick
and leave school and would be picked up by these taxi drivers, and would be
taken to whatever location. Sometimes right there, maybe in the vehicle to meet
up with tourists, but it is sad and it is very disturbing. While the problem
I guess is not big or not such a major problem that it is out of control as
yet, I think that we do realize that it is a concern.” ***
ARCHIVES *** Human
Rights Reports » 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 10, 2020 www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/belize/ [accessed 23 August
2020] SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - The law establishes penalties for child prostitution,
child pornography, child sexual exploitation, and indecent exhibition of a
child. It defines a “child” as anyone younger than age 18. The law stipulates
that the offense of child prostitution does not apply to persons exploiting
16- and 17-year-old children through exchanging sexual activity for
remuneration, gifts, goods, food, or other benefits. The legal age for
consensual sex is 16, but prostitution is not legal under age 18. Sexual
intercourse with a minor younger than age 14 is punishable by 12 years’ to
life imprisonment. Unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor age 14-16 is
punishable by five to 10 years’ imprisonment. There were
anecdotal reports that boys and girls were exploited through child
prostitution, including through the “sugar daddy” syndrome whereby older men
provided money to minors, their families, or both for sexual relations.
Similarly, there were reports of increasing exploitation of minors, often to
meet the demand of foreign sex tourists in tourist-populated areas or where
there were transient and seasonal workers. The law criminalizes the
procurement or attempted procurement of “a person” younger than age 18 to
engage in prostitution; an offender is liable to eight years’ imprisonment.
The government did not effectively enforce laws prohibiting child sex
trafficking. The law establishes
a penalty of two years’ imprisonment for persons convicted of publishing or
offering for sale any obscene book, writing, or representation. 2018 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2019 www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2018/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 22 August
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 187] Government officials
indicate that Belize has a reputation as being a destination for child sexual
exploitation, with reports of children being trafficked in areas frequented
by tourists or seasonal works, such as San Pedro, Punta Gorda,
and Belize City. (3,14,16) Girls from impoverished communities and
LGBTI children are particularly vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation
and labor trafficking in Belize. (14,15,17,16) In 2018, there were reports of girls in
Punta Gorda being exploited by family members and made
to engage in sexual relationships with American expats, who would reward the
families financially. (3) Anecdotal reports also indicate that boys from
Belize City and San Pedro were recruited to transport and sell drugs and
firearms and commit murders as part of gang warfare. (3,7,12,15) Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 28 January 2005 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/belize2005.html [accessed 22 January
2011] [67] The Committee
welcomes the adoption in 2003 of the Trafficking in Persons
(Prohibition) Act, which provides special protection for children, and the
subsequent establishment of a special Task Force to give greater effect to
the implementation of the Act, and notes the State party’s efforts to combat
sexual exploitation of children, for instance, through the “Stamp Out Child
Abuse” campaign. Notwithstanding these positive steps taken by the State
party, the Committee is concerned about the sexual exploitation of children,
child pornography and trafficking of children in [68] The Committee
also notes with concern that the sex offence legislation of the State party
is discriminatory, leaving boys without equal legal protection from sexual
assault and abuse. Furthermore, the reported cases of the so‑called
“sugar daddies”, adult men having sexual liaison with girls and providing
both girls and their families with monetary and material benefits in exchange
for sex, give rise to serious concerns. Child prostitution
in Belize is no myth, says report Jacqueline Godwin
reporting, News-5 Channel-5 Belize, October 26, 2006 channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=17297 [accessed 6 April
2011] In the news media
we're always hearing rumours of child prostitution
in DIANNE HAYLOCK - How a four year
old be commercially exploited sexually? Parent involvement. The child is
wooed by an older man with sweets, food and all of those things and the
mother eventually finds out and she continues, she allows it to continue to
happen and she benefits financially from this man. This child actually ran
away from home and the way the case came to the attention of the service
providers is not because that was happening but the child ended up with an
S.T.I. Five Years After
Stockholm [PDF] ECPAT: Fifth Report
on implementation of the Agenda for Action [DOC] ECPAT International,
November 2001 www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf [accessed 13
September 2011] [B] COUNTRY UPDATES
– Ratification
of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
sale of children child prostitution and child pornography Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/caa7306668e2b21cc1256997002c23eb?OpenDocument [accessed 6 April
2011] Status: Ratification Date of
signature 09/06/2000 Date of receipt of
instrument by the UN 12/01/2003 Date of entry into
force 01/01/2004 Child Prostitution:
A Growing Scourge W. E. Gutman, The www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_10/issue_07/travel_01.html [accessed 6 April
2011] lab.org.uk/sex-tourism-threatens-central-americas-youth [accessed 5 November
2016] lab.org.uk/sex-tourism-threatens-central-america%E2%80%99s-youth/ [accessed 16 October
2017] A
REGION OUT OF CONTROL - Although comprehensive data
regarding child prostitution in Belize are not available, sex tourism is
being blamed on an increase in HIV/AIDS cases among minors and adults.
Ambiguous statutes, slipshod investigations and short prison terms are
turning The Protection
Project - The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/belize.doc [accessed 2009] FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE
TO THE TRAFFICKING INFRASTRUCTURE - Throughout the Central American region,
“machismo” attitudes are prevalent, and women are often viewed as sexual
objects. Interfamily violence, the breakdown of families, and poverty push
young people to leave their homes and communities to search for better lives. FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Many of the
teenage girls and children trafficked into the country from neighboring
Central American countries are forced to work in domestic service, as bar
maids, and in prostitution. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61716.htm [accessed 7 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
- The government's National Committee for Families and Children reported
instances of minors engaged in prostitution with older male clientele, in
some cases of their own volition, in others arranged by their family. The
girls were typically of high-school age, but some as young as 12 were
reported, and came from economically disadvantaged families in which their
mothers also were victims of the same abuse. The girls often provided sexual
favors to older men in exchange for clothing, jewelry, or school fees and
books. In a limited number of cases, the government was not able to prosecute
individuals for unlawful carnal knowledge because the victims or their
families were reluctant to press charges. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/belize.htm [accessed 22 January
2011] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Teenage girls, many of whom have migrated from
neighboring Central American countries, are reported to work as domestic
servants, barmaids and prostitutes. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
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ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
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