He held workers’ passports … but is it a crime?

Tales of modern day indentured servitude have long been circulated in Belize, centring largely on the East Indian and Mainland Chinese communities. Young men and women are said to come over on spuriously obtained visas and once in the country they must work off their passage and “sponsorship” by spending long days and nights behind the counter of a dry goods shop or dala chicken joint. To make sure they stay in line the boss holds on to the worker’s passport. That, anyway, is the common perception. Today in Magistrate’s Court perception merged with reality when an Indian businessman was charged under the Trafficking in Persons Act. Thirty-three year old Jitendra Chawla, better know as “Jack Charles,” was charged with six counts of Withholding Travel Documents, a violation of section four of the Trafficking Act. On Friday police with a search warrant entered a warehouse at mile two on the Western Highway, where they encountered a young man of Indian nationality who could not produce his papers, saying his employer had taken them. This led police to Chawla’s office on Amara Avenue where five more Indians told police that Chawla was holding their passports as well. The businessman, proprietor of Xtra House Supermarket, appeared before Magistrate Margaret Gabb along with his attorney, Dean Barrow. He was released on five thousand dollar bail and will reappear on July seventh. The trafficking in persons legislation, passed in 2003, was “strongly suggested” to Belize by the United States of America. It is intended to stop exploitation of people who are forced into prostitution or other forms of labour against their will. While the law’s intentions–that of protecting innocent victims–may be noble, it is worth asking the question of how it is that large numbers of Indians, mainland Chinese and Central Americans are allowed to come into Belize and work in the first place.