Global Issues
Belize
• Source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.
• Common form of trafficking in Belize is the coerced prostitution of children, particularly situations in which poor parents push their school-aged children to provide sexual favors to wealthy older men in exchange for school fees, money, and gifts.
• Child sex tourism, involving primarily U.S. citizens, identified as an emerging trend.
• Sex trafficking and forced labor of Belizean and foreign women and girls occurs in bars, nightclubs, and brothels throughout the country.
Sources: U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2011