Belize Reframes Migration as National Opportunity

Belize is taking a major step toward formally managing migration, not as a challenge, but as a key part of national development. Today, government officials, international partners, and stakeholders gathered in Belmopan to launch the country’s first-ever Migration and Development Policy consultation process. The week-long discussions will help shape a comprehensive framework aimed at addressing migration through the lenses of national security, labour, and social services, laying the groundwork for a policy that has been nearly a decade in the making. Here is more from today’s event.

 

Kareem Musa, Minister of Immigration

“It is my honor to stand before you today as we open this first National Stakeholder Consultation on the Belize Migration and Development Policy, a milestone that our ministry, government and this country have been working on for almost a decade. I want to begin with something simple but important. Migration is not a problem to be solved. It is a reality to be government, wisely, humanely and strategically and for two long Belize have been navigating that reality without a comprehensive national policy to guide us.”

 

Tanya Santos, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Immigration

“Migration can no longer be considered just a border issue. it is a labor issue, a health issue, an education issue, a demographic issue and a national development issue. The Development of a Migration and Development Polic is Belize’s formal recognition of this reality.”

 

This launch marks the beginning of a week-long series of consultations running from across Belmopan, Belize City, Bella Vista, and San Pedro.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

Watch the full newscast here: