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Today, the University of Belize held the Multi-Sectoral Approach to Crime Prevention and Crime Control Forum at its Belmopan campus. Its objective was to break down the strategy that the Ministry of Home Affairs implements to combat crime. Today the Minister, Kareem Musa, explained that despite the noise in the market, the multi-sectoral approach is working.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"Today was an extremely important engagement with our national university, the University of Belize. We had a large gathering of not just lecturers, but also of students. And this was important for us to address the crime prevention and crime control Strategy, part of the Ministry of Home Affairs strategy to tackle crime and violence, specifically in Belize City. But certainly it is one of those programs that we want to expand Countrywide."
"As you know, we started this initiative under Mr. William Dawson in 2021, and it's no coincidence that we've seen a drastic reduction in violent crime throughout the country of Belize and specifically Belize City. And it is because of effective policing, and it is because of the work that the LIU is doing. There will always be critics, you know, but we have to understand that crime is an extremely complex issue."
"You can't it's not just black or white. You have to have many different approaches, many different ways in which you tackle crime and violence. And that is across the world. And so this is just one of the many facets that we're employing to tackle crime. And I have to say, again, it's no coincidence that there is a reduction and Belize continues to plummet in terms of their ranking of the world's most violent countries. We were at number 11 in the region last year and we hope to get even further down that ranking."
Dominique Noralez, Chairperson, LIU
"I think it's necessary. And so the work and the investment that has been made into the leadership intervention unit, which as we know is quite still quite a very young initiative by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It's a necessary thing because we don't want to say that we are just going to throw our hands up and and hope for the best."
"I think initiatives such as this that involve this multisectoral strategy involves government and non-government, involves public and private sector, is how we're going to as comprehensively as possible, tackle the issue of crime and violence in terms of prevention, in terms of rehabilitation and, of course, restorative justice."
