This morning, the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Department of Youth Services signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide joint support for migrant youths who have had to flee from their home country to seek asylum in Belize.
Both organizations will collaborate on actions to support the protection and inclusion of young men and women who have been affected by forced displacement. The plan is that these asylum seekers will be provided with easier access to important services in Belize which are needed for a smoother transition to their new life away from their home country of neighboring El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, or Nicaragua.
7News stopped by for the signing of the MOU, and spoke with representatives from the Government and the UNHCR about the agreement:
Renee Cuijpers. - Deputy Rep., UNHCR Multi-Country Office
"For us, this is a very event. This MOU, this memorandum of understanding is a strategic framework, a strategic partnership with the Department of Youth Services and UNHCR, between the 2 of us, to work together on different programs, projects, initiatives targeting youth and young people, refugee youths, and asylum seekers. We're talking about persons who are forced to flee and are now looking for protection in another country. They're obliged to flee to save their lives, in this case, people who are coming to Belize and are looking for a haven in Belize, but also, and as equally important, working together with a host community and the Belizeans who are receiving these people and the Belizeans youth. So, it's really about protection services, access to services, awareness and capacity building, but also the promotion of community-based initiatives, which will help communities and give young people a chance to continue, etc., and strengthening their skills, recognizing of course that young people have a lot of potentials, which the importance, of course, of continuing working together that and move forward on these issues."
Hon. Kevin Bernard - Minister of Youth and Sports
"There are people who come to this country, young people, seeking services and what more beneficial is it that the Department of Youth Services takes on this, to ensure that those people who are refugees in this country, and as asylum seekers, who have had terrible experiences in their own country, come to Belize. As was mentioned, they look at Belize as a fresh start. And so, what we're doing here today is to ensure that we offer that commitment to say that we are going to be able to provide services to all our young Belizeans who are looking for support, but also, to those young refugees and asylum seekers who come to our country wanting the services that we offer."
Reporter
"What does the MOU do? What are you all agreeing to with UNHCR?"
Hon. Kevin Bernard
"There are several things we're looking at. 1, we are going to work on completing our youth needs assessment survey. So, I want to thank UNHCR for offering us that support so that we could look at this thing holistically, where we're addressing the needs of our young people. There will be a lot of data collection exercises. There's going to be capacity building, in terms of the service area that we're going to - the conflict and behavioral modification services. The team will be able to build capacity there's a lot of in-house training that will take place. But also, the fat is that we're saying that we want to ensure that these people who seek these services are able to get the services."
Renee Cuijpers
"According to the government statistics, we have around 2,400 people who are registered as refugees and asylum seekers in the country. Among, as was mentioned before, 30% are young people."
In a joint press release today, the Government and UNHCR said, quote, "Belize is home to 2,394 registered and an estimated 3,400 more unregistered asylum seekers and refugees who have come to Belize seeking safe haven and protection… Out of these, about 34% are 13 to 29-year-old young refugees seeking protection." End Quote.
We asked the Minister of Youth if pro-refugee moves like this from today could backfire on the Government of Belize. You'll remember that several months ago, thousands of unaccompanied migrant children from Central America started showing up at the Southern borders of the United States. In March, there was even a 12-year-Belizean child, identified as Ashley, who showed up at the South Texas border after a 22-day walk without an adult accompanying her.
Could Belize face a similar problem of migrant children simply showing up to seek asylum in such large numbers, as the US? Here's what Minister Bernard had to say about that:
Hon. Kevin Bernard - Minister of Youth and Sports
"We have our own rules. You come to this country through our proper means. If you come to this country come to this country in the right way, then there's nothing that we could say stops these people from coming in, once they're legally here. Now, of course, I don't - this is my personal opinion. I don't believe that we should just leave the gates open. We have to look at, and I am pretty sure in the Ministry of Immigration, labor, and all these, we do as we'll have where backgrounds are checked. These people are checked, and so, if one or 2 slip us, that's different. But for the most part, we want to ensure that we are open-minded in this concept to say, you know what, we welcome you all. But, come here to be productive."
