Prostitution in Belize

Whilst prostitution is legal,{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119148.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226174800/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119148.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 February 2009|title=2008 Human Rights Reports: Belize|publisher=US Department of State|access-date=27 January 2017}}{{cite book|title=Belize Criminal Laws, Regulations and Procedures Handbook - Strategic Information and Basic Laws|date=7 June 2015|publisher=Intl Business Pubns USA|isbn=9781514506585|page=47}} the buying of sexual services is not.{{cite web|last1=Flowers|first1=Benjamin|title=Regional prostitution laws challenged but sex work already legal in Belize|url=http://www.reporter.bz/front-page/regional-prostitution-laws-challenged-but-sex-work-already-legal-in-belize/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423134245/http://www.reporter.bz/front-page/regional-prostitution-laws-challenged-but-sex-work-already-legal-in-belize/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=23 April 2016|website=The Reporter Newspaper|access-date=31 December 2017|date=22 April 2016}}{{cite web|title=Prostitution in San Pedro|url=http://ambergrisdaily.com/ambergris-caye-stories/prostitution-in-san-pedro/|website=Ambergris Daily|access-date=31 December 2017|date=2 August 2012}}

Related activities such as procuring another person to work as a prostitute, providing premises for prostitution and living off the earnings of prostitution are illegal.{{cite web|title=Sex Work Law - Countries|url=http://spl.ids.ac.uk/sexworklaw/countries|website=Sexuality, Poverty and Law|access-date=31 December 2017|language=en}} Keeping, managing or assisting in the management of a brothel is also prohibited. Liquor licensing laws prohibit prostitution in bars.

The Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act Chapter 98 prohibits "common prostitutes" (women who have previously received a police warning) from soliciting in a street or public place for the purpose of prostitution. "Male persons" are prohibited from loitering for the purpose of prostitution, or to persistently solicit or importune for immoral purposes.

The laws treat prostitution offences as nuisances and penalties are small.

The Trafficking in Persons Prohibition Act of 2003 combats trafficking, but the maximum penalty is low, compared to other countries, at 5 years imprisonment or $5,000 fine.

The Immigration laws prohibit the entry into the country of prostitutes or any person living off the proceeds of prostitution.

The laws are commonly not enforced, and law enforcement officials are often corrupt.

Although illegal, brothels are widespread in the country.{{cite web|title=Prostitution and Sex in Belize|url=http://guide2belize.com/belize-prostitution/|website=Guide2Belize|access-date=31 December 2017}} Orange Walk Town is reputed to have the highest concentration of brothels.{{cite web|title=Belize it or not!|url=http://www.ontheroadwithrich.com/single-post/2016/08/28/Belize-it-or-Not|website=On the Road With Rich|access-date=31 December 2017|language=en|date=29 August 2016}}

In June 2011, the country's best known brothel, Raul's Rose Garden, was burnt down. It had first opened in February 1981. Before their withdrawal in the 1990s, the establishment was popular with British soldiers.{{cite web|title=The Rose Garden Gutted By Fire|url=http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=19980|website=7 News Belize|access-date=31 December 2017|date=28 June 2011}}

Some hotels operate a "ficha" system. Prostitutes rent rooms in the hotel and attract clients in the bar. The women are paid commission on the drinks bought by the clients before going to the rooms. The rent of the room is taken out of the commission. These hotels are often connected to nightclubs or go-go bars.{{cite book|last1=Kempadoo|first1=Kamala|author-link=Kamala Kempadoo |title=Sexing the Caribbean : gender, race, and sexual labor|date=2004|publisher=Routledge|location=New York [u.a.]|isbn=978-0415935036}}

To try to combat the spread of STIs, including HIV, and by inter-governmental agreement, a number of brothels were set up for the exclusive use of British troops stationed in the country.{{cite journal|last1=Kane|first1=SC|title=Prostitution and the military: planning AIDS intervention in Belize|url=https://www.popline.org/node/332424|journal=Social Science & Medicine|access-date=31 December 2017|language=en|date=1 April 1993|volume=36|issue=7|pages=965–79|doi=10.1016/0277-9536(93)90088-l|pmid=8480242|url-access=subscription}}{{cite book|last1=Aggleton|first1=Peter |last2=Davies|first2=Peter|last3=Hart|first3=Graham|title=AIDS : safety, sexuality and risk|date=1995|publisher=Taylor & Francis|location=Basingstoke|isbn=978-0748402922}}{{cite web|last1=Enloe|first1=Cynthia|title=It takes more than two|url=http://www.rafwives.co.uk/prostitu.htm|website=RAF Wives|access-date=31 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110105623/http://rafwives.co.uk/prostitu.htm|archive-date=10 January 2016|url-status=dead}} The prostitutes, many from Guatemala, had to carry a photo identification card and undergo weekly health checks. The use of condoms was mandatory.

Belize is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking. The UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons reported family members facilitate the sex trafficking of Belizean women and girls. In tourist regions, foreign child sex tourists, primarily from the United States, exploit child sex trafficking victims. Sex trafficking of Belizean and foreign women and girls, primarily from Central America, occur in bars, nightclubs, brothels, and domestic service. LGBTI men, women, and children are vulnerable to sex trafficking. Foreign men, women, and children—particularly from Central America, Mexico, and Asia—migrate voluntarily to Belize in search of work and are often exploited by traffickers who recruit victims using false promises of relatively high-paying jobs. Some migrants are subjected to sex trafficking. Trafficking-related complicity by government officials remains a problem.{{cite web|title=Belize 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report|url=https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2017/271146.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703181131/https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2017/271146.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 July 2017|website=U.S. Department of State|access-date=31 December 2017}}{{PD-notice}}

The United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons ranks Belize as a Tier 3 country.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070923065937/http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2001/belize.htm Belize Government Policies and Programs to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor ]
• [https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/1999/19990618.wom1140.html Lacking Contraceptive Advice, Belize's Current Health Policy 'Obviously Not Working', First Lady Of Belize Tells Anti-Discrimination]
• [http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/rwinslow/namerica/belize.html Crime in Belize]

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