Over the past two years, the Youth Enhancement Services, the National Committee for Families and children and other organizations have worked closely with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour’s (IPEC) sub regional project on the commercial sexual exploitation of Children. On Thursday, April 23, 2009, they held an event for the public to raise awareness on a shocking truth.
Judith Alpuche, Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Human Development, said that networks are using the tourism industry to organize sexual operations involving minors. She spoke of a scenario that starts with a call to the minor from school. The child then fakes an illness and is excused to go home. However, instead of going home, that child is picked up by a taxi that will take her to provide sexual services. She also spoke of the common “sugar daddy” scenario. This is where an adult provides for the minor; example, school fees, food, material goods, etc. in exchange for sexual favours. Alpuche explains that the most disturbing part of this scenario is that the parents are often involved because their bills are sometimes paid as well. She said that their best hope of combating this situation is by educating the children on their rights.
Case studies have shown that in one home, a child as young as four-years-old was sexually exploited. Alpuche said that their next goal is to work with a host of NGO’s to do an intervention program in San Pedro which is one of the most troublesome locations in terms of sexual exploitation.
To help in the education process, the ILO and IPEC have produced a regional documentary and they hope that it will lead to a reduction in the number of children being sexually exploited. In addition to the documentary, there are also books and booklets available for the education process.
The First Lady of Belize, Mrs. Kim Simplis-Barrow, was the Guest Speaker at the event. She reiterated her passion for children and said that programs like CSEC are one of the major focuses of her activities. Her other roles as Special Envoy for Children include advocating for the implementation of programmes and initiatives that benefit children and their families; collaborating with government and quasi-government bodies to present projects seeking financial resources at home and abroad to support government programs for children; influencing the development of social policies and legislation in defense of children and participate in delegations representing the Government of Belize at international and national forums relating to children. She also said that she was vigorously pursuing to host the 2010 Central American First Lady’s Conference on the issue of sexual exploitation of children.
The First Lady continued her advocacy on Monday, April 23, as she commenced on a three day tour of the children’s home in Belize. The tour is part of her effort to familiarize herself with the situation of children in Belize. Her itinerary stated that on Monday she visited Hosanna House in Dangriga; Tuesday she visited Milhollan, Marla’s House of Hope and King’s Children Home and on Thursday it is the Belize Christian Efforts, Liberty Children’s Home and Dorothy Menzies Child Care Center.
The Special Envoy for Children is an unpaid position. The post was designated in keeping with the results of the Special meeting on Children of CARICOM’s Council on Human and Social Development held in February of 2008. That meeting called for the scaling up of efforts by member countries to promote and safeguard the rights of children in the region. The meeting called for the identification of regional and national “Champions for children” as one strategy for focusing attention on children’s rights issues. In 2009, Mrs. Barrow intends to focus on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation of children and children with disabilities. She was accompanied on her tour by Ms. Judith Alpuche and other officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
