Belize Woman
Belize
No laws impede participation of women in politics, and 82 percent of both men and women were registered to vote. There were two women in the House of Representatives; one was an elected Representative and the other was appointed to serve as Speaker of the House. There were 3 women in the 12-member appointed Senate, and another woman served as president of the Senate. There was one woman in the Cabinet, and three women were chief executive officers of ministries. ... [Read More]
Belize
No laws impede participation of women in politics; however, they are somewhat underrepresented in electoral politics due to both tradition and socioeconomic factors. Voters elected 2 women to the 29-seat House of Representatives, and the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate, both appointed, are women. Women also hold a number of other appointive offices, including four of nine senate seats, one cabinet position, and three are permanent secretaries in ministries. The Chief Elections Officer is also a woman. ... [Read More]
Belize
There were 2 women in the 29-seat House of Representatives, 1 of whom was appointed to serve as Speaker of the House. There were 3 women in the 12-member appointed Senate, and another woman served as president of the Senate. There was one woman in the Cabinet, and five women were chief executive officers of ministries. ... There were no legal impediments to women owning or managing land or other real property. Women were active in all spheres of national life, but relatively few held top managerial positions. The law mandates equal pay for equal work; however, women tended to earn less than men; the median monthly income for a working woman was $353 (Bz$706) compared with $374 (Bz$748) for a man. ... [Read More]
Guatemala (08/04)
On August 8, 1983, Rios Montt was deposed by his own Minister of Defense, Gen. Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores, who succeeded him as de facto President of Guatemala. Mejia justified his coup, saying that "religious fanatics" were abusing their positions in the government and also because of "official corruption." Seven people were killed in the coup, although Rios Montt survived to found a political party (the Guatemalan Republic Front) and to be elected President of Congress in 1995 and 2000. Awareness in the United States of the conflict in Guatemala, and its ethnic dimension, increased with the 1983 publication of the book I, Rigoberta Menchu, An Indian Woman in Guatemala. The book recounts the life of the title character, a young woman whose often tragic life experiences reflect the experiences common to many indigenous people suffering under that nation’s injustices. ... [Read More]
Presidential Determination with Respect to Foreign Governments’ Efforts Regarding Trafficking in Persons
Statement of Explanation: GreeceOn the basis of positive actions undertaken by the Government of Greece since the end of the 2003 reporting period, the Secretary of State has determined that the Government of Greece does not yet fully comply with the Act’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance. This is the standard for placement on Tier 2 of the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons report. In June 2003, the Government of Greece was presented with a work plan by the State Department that outlined steps to combat trafficking. Since that time, it has accomplished each of the items in the Department’s work plan, thus demonstrating "significant efforts." These efforts include: [Read More]
Department of State Washington File: Text: Pan American Health Organization Resolution on AIDS
In North America, the PAHO report said, the wide use of combination antirretroviral therapies has had a positive impact on mortality and in delaying the progression of HIV infection to AIDS. Of the more than 760,000 AIDS cases reported in the Unites States up to May 2000, almost 90 percent of cases were in men who had sex with men (MSM) and/or injecting drug users (IDU). Only 10 percent were attributed to heterosexual transmission. Recent trends of HIV infection have disclosed that both groups (MSM and IDU) continue to be the most affected groups, although heterosexual transmission among women has continued to increase. These trends are particularly noticeable in inner cities and among marginalized groups. In Canada, HIV prevalence is very low, but HIV transmission is increasingly related to heterosexual contact and injecting drug users as the principal sources of transmission. At the beginning of the epidemic (1985), sex between men used to account for most of the HIV cases (75 percen ... [Read More]
Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessment
To address the problem of law enforcement officers and immigration and airport authorities collaborating in trafficking across Nigeria’s borders, NAPTIP briefed the heads of police and immigration on the issue. NAPTIP officials also met with several major traditional leaders to raise their awareness about trafficking and the new law. Since February, NAPTIP has investigated 35 TIP-related cases, at times collaborating with the Spanish police, the Italian National Anti-Mafia Bureau, and Benin Republic police. Arrests were made in 13 cases, four of which have gone to court. One trial was completed and the judgment is pending. Immigration Service anti-trafficking units supported NAPTIP in surveillance, arrests, and prosecutions, including receiving, interviewing, and locating the relatives of deported victims. In November, the High Court of Edo State delivered the first conviction under the new anti-trafficking law, sentencing a woman to three years’ imprisonment for attempting to traffic ... [Read More]
V. Country Narratives -- Countries A through G
Equatorial Guinea is a transit and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation, involuntary domestic servitude, and other forced labor. Women and children are trafficked to Equatorial Guinea from West and Central Africa, principally Cameroon, Nigeria, and Benin. Women are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation in Malabo, where demand is high due to the booming oil sector. Cameroonian and Beninese children are trafficked to Malabo for exploitation as street and market hawkers; Nigerian boys are trafficked to Rio Muni (the mainland) for exploitation as agricultural workers. The Government of Equatorial Guinea does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Over the past year the government has made a number of efforts that attest ... [Read More]
Belize
No laws impeded participation of women in politics, and 82 percent of both men and women were registered to vote. There were three women in the House of Representatives; two were elected Representatives and the other was appointed to serve as Speaker of the House. There were 5 women in the 12-member appointed Senate, and another woman served as president of the Senate. There was one woman in the Cabinet, and five women were chief executive officers of ministries. The Chief Elections Officer was also a woman. There were no laws impeding participation by indigenous persons or minority groups in politics. There were Mestizo, Creole, Maya, and Garifuna representatives in the National Assembly. Voter registration and participation were not tracked by ethnicity; however, there were no complaints or reports of electoral discrimination on the basis of ethnicity. Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and N ... [Read More]
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