Belize Making Strides in Honoring CRC Responsibilities

Ivan Yerovi

Despite significant progress in achieving the objectives set out under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Belize falls nominally short of a hundred percent birth registration.  Likewise, great strides have been made to minimize the number of babies being born with HIV infection.  According to UNICEF’s country representative Ivan Yerovi, those are just few of the overall challenges.

Ivan Yerovi, UNICEF Representative, Belize

“The country has made great efforts and achievements in terms of improving the conditions for children in the country.  Just to give an example, the country is almost with universal coverage in terms of birth registration.  Currently it’s ninety-five percent but we still have, you know, when we say we I’m considering UNICEF and the entire, the government et cetera, the civil society at large.  We have to make an additional effort to reach a hundred, we’re almost there. When we look at the coverage of water and sanitation for instance we are almost there, as well.  In terms of children born HIV infected we are also trying to get to zero, no more kids born with HIV infections.  There are several indicators that are telling us that the country has made great achievements, you know, that comply with children’s rights; however, we still have some challenges that we still have to address.”