And one seemingly stalled negotiation that's going ahead is the MOU between UNHCR and the Department of Youth, Sports, and E-governance.
Yesterday on SunUp on 7 area rep for Corozal north, and former UDP deputy Prime Minister Hugo Patt his government had no confidence in carrying out the plan - which was proposed by the US to let third party nations house refugees.
Hugo Pat, Area Rep for Corozal North
"This is an awkward situation because 01:25:48 if we're talking about refugees it's not normal that you would see the Ministry of youth signing on to these agreements this is my opinion is an issue that has to be addressed by the department of immigration. Now, there were a number that we had as that proposal was presented to us, you see when people seek asylum in the U.S. and what the U.S. wanted was basically for us to have a site in Belize to basically bring in those people and one of the questions that we had is look are we gonna be a part of the screening process, do we know what kind of people are going to be brought into the country, are we gonna be fully informed of who these people are, are we going to have access to their personal data, to their criminal records and the answer was no. Secondly if these people were brought into Belize what time frame are we looking for, for the United states to qualify for asylum or not and in the event that these people do not qualify, do these people, remain in country, will these people eventually be, will there be a spill over into our society if we call it that way, and so those are some of the concerns we have and so on the basis of those we practically rejected that proposal."
But on this morning's show, we got to hear from the opposing side, the current Minister of Youth, Sports, and E-governance Kevin Bernard, who told us that the agreement in question isn't what Patt thinks it is.
Instead, it's a move to guarantee that all youth residents in Belize, regardless of where they come from, get access to his ministry's much-needed vital services.
Hon. Kevin Bernard, Minister of Youth, Sports, and E-Governance
"We at the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and E-governance here in Belize all those persons living in Belize whether you are a refugee, whether you are an asylum seeker but our Belizean youth must always get the benefit of the services we provide."
"We have worked for eight months. I know that the UNHCR through the refugee department had approach the previous government on other matters, not specifically this process and what the director will expound mon is that while they approach the department there was a different shift and a refocus and a new MOU signed because we wanted to ensure that it works and it falls in line with our strategic plan of the work that we want to do in this country."
Kevin Cadle, Director, Department of Youth Services
"When we first saw the MOU by UNHCR we felt that we needed some time to actually go through it and then to see how that would actually work with the amalgamation in the first place that was approved by Cabinet and we recognize that at the time that the department was just an implementing agency and was not coordinating and being the leader in youth and development work in the country. To do these things it takes time and so that MOU took us almost 8 months for us to literally go through it and for us to sign on to a MOU with UNHCR. Currently we are going through the same thing. I actually I drove all the way from Corozal four o'clock this morning to be here because we are going through the same thing right now with UNICEF and we are going through the same process of what we had previously signed and where we want to go with it and it has to meet our strategic planning direction in terms of the PlanBelize and everything else that culminates with youth and development work."
The Minister and his director say that their only goal is to develop young people across the length and breadth of the country.
