Transnational Issues Belize
Disputes - international:
Guatemalan squatters continue to settle in the largely uninhabited
rain forests of Belize's border region; OAS seeks to revive the 2002
failed Belize-Guatemala Differendum that created a small adjustment
to land boundary, a Guatemalan maritime corridor in Caribbean, joint
ecological park for disputed Sapodilla Cays, and substantial US-UK
financial package
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Belize is a source, transit, and destination
country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of
labor and sexual exploitation; women and girls are trafficked mainly
from Central America, and exploited in prostitution; children are
trafficked to Belize for labor exploitation; Belize's largely
unmonitored borders with Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico facilitate
the movement of illegal migrants who are vulnerable to traffickers;
girls are trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation,
sometimes with the consent and complicity of their close relatives;
there are unconfirmed reports that Indian and Chinese migrants are
trafficked for involuntary servitude in homes and shops
tier rating: Tier 3 - Belize has failed to show evidence of
significant law enforcement or victim protection efforts
Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for cocaine; small-scale illicit producer of
cannabis for the international drug trade; money-laundering activity
related to narcotics trafficking and offshore sector
This page was last updated on 19 December, 2006
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@Benin
Introduction Benin
Background:
Present day Benin was the site of Dahomey, a prominent West African
kingdom that rose in the 15th century. The territory became a French
Colony in 1872 and achieved independence on 1 August 1960, as the
Republic of Benin. A succession of military governments ended in
1972 with the rise to power of Mathieu KEREKOU and the establishment
of a government based on Marxist-Leninist principles. A move to
representative government began in 1989. Two years later, free
elections ushered in former Prime Minister Nicephore SOGLO as
president, marking the first successful transfer of power in Africa
from a dictatorship to a democracy. KEREKOU was returned to power by
elections held in 1996 and 2001, though some irregularities were
alleged.
Geography Benin