It’s time to reveal that it was Belize Tourism CEO Michael Singh I was speaking wi

th recently in an honest attempt to work with his government to address that cou
ntry’s role as human trafficking super corridor. It was Mr. Singh who was the “gove
rnment representative” I referred to in an earlier blog post re our sincere, and u
ltimately aborted, attempt to work with the Belize government to address women t
rafficked through and within Belize into forced prostitution.
And it was Mr. Singh I identified as a human trafficking denier. He is.
After making the initial appeal to negotiate with us, he wasted precocious time
denying that forced prostitution of victims was a real force in his country, pre
ferring to call it “voluntary” prostitution. He never once uttered, “human traffickin
g” in our exchanges.
Here is an excerpt from an email he sent us with his views and, and apparent exp
erience, surveying the voluntary and enthusiastic life of prostitutes in Central
America. We can verify the source of his email. It’s definitely from him.
The reason you find me to disagree a bit on the voluntary vs forced prostitution
is because I have been traveling extensively in Central America for the past 12
years, as a matter of fact, I am in Honduras as we speak. There is hardly a ba
r or hotel that I have stayed at and not been solicited by prostitutes. In Pana
ma, the Colombian prostitutes that are not working in strip bars/brothels cruise
the hotel lobbies and bars, even upscale places. In Costa Rica, it’s the Nicarag
uans, just as in Belize it’s the Hondurans and now the Dominicans. While certainly
there is a huge linkage, many if not a majority of of them are engaged and cros
s borders for economic reasons, but of course that does not make them any less v
ictims.
What was he thinking? Saying that, in his experience there are voluntary prosti
tutes everywhere he travels, and therefore, Belize is no more guilty than other
countries of turning a blind eye to the crime? He has not served his government
well. In fact, he’s an embarrassment to them. Worse, by not taking leadership o
n this issue, he left to twist in the wind all current and future victims in his
country, and condemning them to a life of sex slavery in Mexico, the US and bey
ond.
While Mr. Singh was anxious to address the Belize tourism crisis, he was not an
honest broker on behalf of his government. Our tourism boycott has enormous att
ention and traction globally. For good reason. People are interested in seeing
Belize reform its attitudes and practices regarding easy flow of trafficking vic
tims through its borders. Increasingly enlightened on Belize’s leniency towards t
his atrocity, they are boycotting Belize tourism and urging others to do the sam
e.
We offered Mr. Singh an opportunity to work with his government to turn the situ
ation around. We offered to help position Belize as a global anti-trafficking ch
ampion.
Instead, he chose to argue with us about the fact of inhumanity to the victims t
hat his government condones and facilitates. He offered these observations whil
e his own government’s police force was raiding San Pedro Ambergris Caye, calling
it a human trafficking ring site. Since then, there has been another raid of hu
man trafficking bars, with more arrests of traffickers.
Our global campaign followers, like us, do not want to punish Belize. We want to
see justice done there. It is in Belize’s power to make changes to their borders
and enforce their own anti-trafficking and prostitution laws.
We stand behind our commitment to work with Belize. Finding Mr. Singh’s discussio
ns with us unacceptable, we urged him to connect us with decision-makers who can
make real change. We are waiting, Mr. Singh.