Dear John,

Belize just celebrated a major milestone in the fight to end human trafficking. Last Thursday, two traffickers in Belize were sentenced for child sex trafficking in the country’s first human trafficking conviction of the year. This decision marks the first conviction ever under Belize’s Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Act of 2013. These two abusers will spend the next decade in prison.

COVID-19 posed many challenges in bringing traffickers to court this year, but human trafficking didn’t stop while the country was on lockdown. Despite the obstacles, the Belizean justice system worked hard to ensure justice was served. 
 

The trial process can be difficult and scary for victims, so our Victim Assistance Coordinator worked with the Belizean social workers to ensure the victim was safe and ready to testify during the trial. HTI’s support helped protect the victim from re-traumatization and build a strong case to sentence the traffickers.

These child predators are in jail, unable to harm more victims. The impact of their sentence is echoing all over Belize, sending other traffickers a message loud and clear: Trafficking will not be tolerated. Belize is serious about partnering with HTI to hold traffickers accountable.
 

Successes like this wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of our donors—people like you who care about justice. Help us stop human trafficking at its source: the trafficker. 

Sincerely,