In 1989 Belize passed the Family Courts Act, establishing a legal structure at the magistrate court level to address family matters. Then in 1990 Belize became the 5th country to sign onto the convention on the rights of children. Since then the bill has not been revised, and so the National Commission for Families and Children is seeking to consolidate the bill in which The Family Courts Act, The Families And Children's Act And The Married Persons Act will fall. At present they are still in the consultation phase with over 2 dozen stakeholders involved in the formulation of this new bill. We stopped by their in person consultation session to find out more:
Shakira Sutherland, Executive Director, NCFC
"So today the NCFC is hosting the families bill consultation and this consultation has started from last year with the focus groups in person we did online and virtually and so we are having our final in person consultation today which has stakeholders from government ministries, NGOs and community groups we also have out child parliamentarians and we also have special envoy, academia, ministry of health personnel's to call come together and share their recommendations and comments in regards to this families bill."
Rossana Briceno, Special Envoy for Women and Children
"The consolidation right now on the bill the family act bill we are trying to consolidate the family court act, the families and children act and the married persons protection act it is very important for our families in Belize especially our women and children that are the most vulnerable and they need to see that the bill the reforms that we want to you and put into place works for them and not just in theory but that they are actually implemented and they have full weight."
Maria Elena Contreras, Chairperson, NCFC
"This is very important because it is a collaborative effort on the part of all relevant stakeholders being coordinated by the national commission for families and children for safeguarding families, children and the elderly so we are looking at all relevant groups within that are vulnerable for us to be able to come up with a reformed bill to pass into law."
