Regional Issues, but Belize has Made Positive Strides

Thea Garcia-Ramirez

In Belize, consultation on a draft National Gender Policy was launched earlier this year and will soon be tabled before the House of Representatives. President of the National Women’s Commission Thea Garcia-Ramirez says that while there are similar issues across all CARICOM member states, Belize does have some positive achievements.

Thea Garcia-Ramirez, President, National Women’s Commission

“We are not unique and within the context of the Caribbean, we all have the same problems and we have to sit together and I think the exchange of information is excellent – what are you doing that’s working so that maybe we can try that and to also share our experiences. Not everything is bad, we have had some very good results. For example, in health, there is the maternal maternity rate, we are the best. So that is good news that lifts your heart and warms your spirit a little bit after all the bad news. We have eradicated malaria which is another excellent news and information. But we are not doing so well when treating each other and how to manage all this violence that we have on the streets, in the houses. We keep working and like I said, the Caribbean on a whole has the same problems. We are hopeful that sitting together we can figure out how to address the same problems that we are all having.”