Conference looks at sex abuse

Professionals from the ministries of Human Development, Health and Education, as well as representatives of law enforcement and community development are meeting at the Radisson Fort George to see what can be done to address the problem of sexual abuse and violence against children. The two-day conference is organized by the University College of Belize. Alex Vega, the Coordinator of UCB’s Social Work Programme says they are concerned about the increase of sexual crimes against minors and believe the participants will be able to come up with a number of ideas as to how the situation can be improved.

Alex Vega, Social Work Programme, Coordinator

“It is more seen as an addition to the professionals working in the field. The question is how we can provide an international perspective on the issue across cultural understanding of sexuality of sexual health, of the issues that are regarding perpetrators of sexual abuse violence, issues regarding the survivors of sexual abuse. It’s really a forum to bring all these people who have been working really hard and taking the brunt of work everyday to together, to learn new perspectives, to share their perspectives, to network together and to collaborate with each other to make their practice stronger in Belize.”

“I also like that we have planned small group work that is task oriented that calls on the participants, that challenges the participants to come up with a mission for Belizean society. In which ways can they as a group of people who are working in the field can come up with an agenda, what each individual can do and what can the whole group of people do together. So these task oriented groups can come up with something that is original and Belizean.”

Facilitators for the workshop include U.S Doctor Eli Coleman, an expert in the field of sexology and clinical psychology and Judith Alpuche, an experienced social worker. The conference will come to a close on Friday.