UN System in Belize Supports Amnesty 2022

Diana Locke

On the ground, there are those who, due to financial constraints, have not applied to the amnesty program. And so, to help with boosting those numbers, the U.N. network in Belize has been lending support to the government in engaging with those who qualify for amnesty.

Diana Locke, Head, International Organization for Migration

“We are also going a step further because we saw the need was so great in Toledo, we are actually paying for all the services that are required in the application process for persons in Toledo. So from the medical, the police record, we are paying for all of it and helping them to complete the application in the hope that they can get their application into the registration center.”

Myrat Myradov

Myrat Myradov, Head of National Office, UNHCR Belize

“We are working with seven thousand persons of concern. Our objective is to provide support to twelve hundred people – the most vulnerable ones. And assistance includes not only in information provision support with the documentation filing, but its actual material support. So we are looking at the families who have larger family composition, those who don’t have economic means or those who don’t have work to be able to support those who have family members with elderly or serious medical conditions. We do provide them with the transportation through our partners Help for Progress, Humana, HRCB (Human Rights Commission of Belize) in the various districts where the population of concern – asylum seekers, refugees – reside. So that includes transportation assistance through the destinations whether it is hospitals, police offices where they can obtain the medical certificates, the TB and HIV testing, they get the police record certificates as well as support of the translation documents and reaching the destination of embassies where required.”

Alison Parker

Alison Parker, Country Representative, UNICEF

“As we map, one of the amazing things we have done is we met with the ambassadors of the various countries as well because they know where their people are as well. So, as we roll out increasingly and go out especially in the periphery, we have identified in terms of mapping over seventy migrant and refugee communities across the country. So when we look at those mapping in different scales, so as we map and move out, we will be able to see where they are.”

Of note is that at the end of the amnesty exercise, those who did not qualify will be dealt with by law enforcement agencies and likely face repatriation.