The Firearms Control and Ammunition Board met with stakeholders on Tuesday in Belmopan. The gathering aimed to enhance coordination and efficiency in the management of firearms and ammunition in Belize. A central focus of the meeting was an in-depth presentation on the establishment, purpose, and mandate of the Board and its role in regulating the possession, use, and distribution of firearms and ammunition. New procedures were introduced to streamline the application, review, and approval processes, including compliance audits to ensure adherence to these protocols. These revised measures are designed to ensure more rigorous and transparent operations, improving the overall effectiveness of firearm regulation.
Author: news5assistant
Disabilities Bill Guarantees Protection of Persons Living With Disabilities
The Disabilities Bill is being celebrated as novel and forward-thinking. The bill seeks to end discrimination against persons with diverse abilities. The bill provides for the establishment of a Disabilities and Equal Rights Tribunal. Lead Government Senator, Eamon Courtenay explained that the legislation guarantees the protection of the differently abled. He went on to clarify that there is no hidden agenda to include the equal opportunities bill through this legislation.
Eamon Courtenay, Lead Government Senator
“This bill represents a recognition by our society that over time and as we mature as a democracy and nation that we are called upon as a collective, community, people, to be more tolerant, to be more inclusive to be more respectful to the differences and diversities within our society and to provide a legal framework which guarantees the protection needed and to ensure there is no discrimination or at least we try to reduce the chances for discrimination and where there is discrimination to provide a legal framework that is clear for redress. I know that there is concern about the name of the tribunal and the disabilities and equal rights tribunal. We say with absolute certainty there is no intention, express or implied, to bring the Equal Opportunities Act into this legislation. Any member of society who believes there is some hidden agenda in bringing the equal opportunities bill into force through this legislation is mistaken. I hope that the day will come soon when we bring the Equal Opportunities Bill for debate.”
Opposition Says Disabilities Bill is an “Ambitious Piece of Legislation”
Lead Opposition Senator, Michael Peyrefitte rose to support the Disabilities Bill. He referred to it as ambitious, noting that it will require significant infrastructure development. And of course, Church Senator Bishop Moses Benguche responded to Senator Courtenay’s comments on a future Equal Opportunities Bill.
Michael Peyrefitte, Lead U.D.P. Senator
“It is very much so an ambitious piece of legislation and maybe the minister of state for finance ran out of the room for purpose, because I hope they have a plan to pay for it. The things they have in place are very ambitious and within the time frame. I think section thirty-four speaks to making sure that all public spaces, public offices will be equipped to deal with people with disabilities within twelve months. You are talking about making sure that students who have a disability are placed in rooms with fewer students. It will require and infrastructure investment.”
Bishop Moses Benguche, Church Senator
“While I hear what the leader for government business has said in so far as the Equal Opportunities Bill, I just want to indicate and I think it is important that I indicate as the senator representing the church that it is important that we be consulted when that bill comes to the senate. I say that with utter seriousness because as I indicated that would not want to feel like the church is being left out in some of these things.”
Opposition Senator Questions U.S. Government Intent Behind $125 Million M.C.C. Grant
The Government of Belize is seeking to establish the Millenium Challenge Account-Belize as the authority over a one hundred and twenty-five million U.S. dollar grant from the Millenium Challenge Corporation. As Prime Minister John Briceño explained during the last sitting of the House of Representatives, the agreement has already been entered into between G.O.B. and the M.C.C. The U.S. government has agreed to provide the funds to improve the nation’s economic situation through investments in energy and education. But the account must first be established before the funds are disbursed. The bill to operationalize the process was debated in the Senate on Tuesday.
Michael Peyrefitte, Lead Opposition Senator
“Not to look a gift horse in the mouth Mister President but I need to know what the deal is. One day the U.S. gets up and just gives Belize a hundred and twenty-five million U.S. What led to that? What is the quid pro quo? This is not a nation that is known to just give things freely. So, it is legitimate for any Belizean to ask well what are we giving up? What is this costing us? And we are not indicating that it may be anything sinister. We just need to know, what do we give in return for this?”
Kevin Herrera, Business Senator
“In terms of the composition of the board, section eleven, I see that it is chaired by the Financial Secretary and him being a member of the board itself. My only concern would be, from all my interactions with him in the past, he just seems like someone who is extremely consumed by tremendous responsibilities. So I am wondering if he is the best person, only from that perspective. He just seems to have a lot on his plate.”
Senators Debate Role of M.C.C. Oversight Team With $125 Million U.S. Grant
Senators also questioned the fact that four government C.E.O.’s will be appointed as members of the board of directors. There were also concerns over renumeration and the level of oversight from M.C.C. that almost makes it impossible to get anything done without their approval. Here is more from the debate.
Bishop Alvin Benguche, Church Senator
“On the aspect of the board, part two eleven where it speaks to renumeration. I think we need to continue to note that aspect, whereby I would hope and even though there will be oversight, I would hope that as we speak to the issue of renumeration that it would involve those who in an authentic way should receive. I can see there than on the board, especially the voting members, and I think if I am right there about three C.E.O.s who are already receiving a salary and should be restricted in so far as they are already receiving a salary and additional renumeration that they would not have to fit into this category.”
Eamon Courtenay, Lead Government Senator
“The long and short of it is that this is U.S. taxpayers’ money primarily, and there are legal requirements in the U.S. that put in place checks and balances that must be imposed on countries that receive the grant. While we may have pushed back and revealed our concerns and continue to express the concerns of the roles and responsibilities of M.C.C. representatives, their hands are tied. Ultimately why one has to accept it, is that you have to pay a price. What the role of the M.C.C. is designed to ensure that there is value for money in terms of the money that is going to be donated and the government counterpart contribution.”
Testing for H.I.V. in the Privacy of Your Home
The fight against H.I.V. and AIDS in Caribbean continues and the team at the National AIDS Commission is doing their part to ensure that Belize is properly equipped. On Monday, Doctor Russell Manzanero, Director of the Epidemiology Unit at the Ministry of Health and Wellness told us that the number of recorded H.I.V. cases in Belize has not seen a drastic shift upward in years, but the work to drive it downward is still ongoing. We spoke with Enrique Romero, Executive Director of the National AIDS Commission, who told us about how the public can do their part to ensure that they are H.I.V. free in the privacy of their own homes. Here’s more on that.
Enrique Romero, Executive Director, NAC
“Globally one of the strategies that has been working in reducing the incidents of H.I.V. globally is the introduction of H.I.V. self-testing modality. So that is something that the National Aids Commission has been advocating for and promoting and working closely with the Ministry of Health and other partners. And we have introduced last year, H.I.V. self-testing, more of a pilot because H.I.V. self-testing is basically you doing the test on your own so last year during the pilot we asked people to come into our facilities at civil society facilities, Belize Family Life Association and GoBelize in Belmopan. And they went into a room and the person in there would assist them in conducting the test. Now the idea now this year is, I believe the colleagues in the Ministry of Health have started rolling this out in some of their districts is the tests are available at the Ministry of Health facility. You ask for an H.I.V. self-test kit, they would give you a kit. The kit comes with a pamphlet that shows you exactly what to do. The kit also has a barcode that you can, everybody has a phone now, you take your phone, you scan the barcode, it takes you to a YouTube channel that shows you exactly how you go about doing the H.I.V. self-test.”
Belizeans Encouraged to Prevent the Spread of H.I.V. with Prep
Combating the spread of H.I.V. and AIDS requires a multidimensional approach, taking into consideration both treatment and preventative measures. Pre-exposure prophylaxis, more commonly known as PREP, is a form of medication used to prevent H.I.V. infection. The National AIDS Commission, NAC, is encouraging the public to make use of this potentially life-saving drug. Enrique Romero, Executive Director of NAC, further explains the benefits of PREP.
Enrique Romero, Executive Director, NAC
“So pre-exposure prophylaxis basically is a pill that is taken daily, and it’s for persons who are H.I.V. negative but who may be at higher risk of contracting H.I.V. So let me give you an example, let’s say you have a relationship, a partner, where the, one of the person; Listen the husband is positive and the wife is negative, for whatever reason. So in order for the wife to eliminate or mitigate the risk of contracting H.I.V. from the husband the woman, the wife would take the pill, the pre-exposure prophylaxis daily, and that would prevent, impede the wife getting, contracting H.I.V. from the husband, and again, these are not things we grab because its being done in the U.S. or is done in Europe and in other countries, there is evidence-based data that shows that pre-exposure prophylaxis has a ninety-eight to ninety-nine percent of mitigating H.I.V. transmission, H.I.V. self-testing has ninety-nine percent accuracy and sensitivity.”
RET Int’l Completes Campaign on Anti-Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is a global problem that governments are trying to control, if their efforts to stomp it out are overwhelmed by people’s economic reality. Today, RET International formally completed an awareness campaign among persons who work in the transportation industry and launched a training module as a guide to individuals who want to enroll in a course at U.B. on the topic. Today News Five’s Marion Ali was present for the closing ceremony and filed this report.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Key individuals who work in the transportation service industry were part of a training on anti-human trafficking to teach them to look for signs of activity around them. It included the participation of over five hundred persons across the country. Joshua Muñoz, who is the monitoring and evaluation officer for RET International, said it took the form of a train- the -trainers who then shared their skills. Taxi and bus drivers were included in the campaign, and a module was used to capture the key areas of concern.
Joshua Munoz, Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, RET Int’l
“We had to condense the module itself just enough to the four elements to give a short presentation between fifteen to thirty minutes and to ensure to pass on that information to them so they could understand how trafficking and how the transportation itself is vulnerable to human trafficking and how they themselves may be without their even their knowledge, might be assisting in terms of transporting persons from one who might be victims of trafficking from one place to one location to the other.”
“It goes in detail in terms of what is human trafficking and as well how the transportation industry itself. With this partnership we have with the University of Belize, we’re going to continue advertising the e-course module, so that anyone can register, sign in and get their certification with this e course module itself. If you’re getting a phone call at 10 o’clock at night and you want, they want the person to transport you from the border, or from one part of the district to the next part of the district, that should be a cause of alarm. And so those are the things that we try to bring awareness to them.”
Kamesh Chivukula is the U.S. Embassy’s political officer in Belize. He is also the grants officer for the CARSI Grants Program, which funded this project. He hopes that the campaign will help reduce the incidences of human trafficking in Belize.
Kamesh Chivukula, U.S. Embassy
“This particular project was designed to enhance the capacity of all the stakeholders, especially in the transportation industry, to identify and report suspected cases of human trafficking. The transportation industry plays a significant, it’s a significant link in the chain of trafficking and it’s the training that was conducted as part of this project, we hope will play its part in reducing or breaking that chain.”
Cherese Ferguson, RET Country Representative, Belize
“These persons are not in offices for their eight to five, they are on the move. They have they work on shift. And so we had to be creative in reaching or target audience. We may not be able to stop it 100%, however, because we know that they are vulnerable to being used, and maybe some of them have been participating in facilitating trafficking, that’s why it was important for us to target this population. So they have the information, and the key part of our training that we highlighted was the law. The anti-trafficking prohibition act, which outlines the offenses and the penalties for those so that if they’re knowledgeable, if they’re culpable in participating in this act, they know what the consequences will be.”
The campaign was conducted for twenty-one months. Marion Ali for News Five.
U.S. $1 Million Distributed Among 4 Belizean Organisations
Today, the U.S. Embassy distributed one million U.S. dollars among four organisations in Belize as part of the Central America Regional Security Initiative’s Economic Support Fund. This fund aims to foster social and economic development in Central American countries by supporting the initiatives of civil society organizations. News Five’s Britney Gordon attended the award ceremony in Belmopan to find out which organisations will benefit from this generous grant.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
Since 2012, the United States government has awarded over eleven million dollars in CARSI-ESF grants to civil society organizations in Belize. These grants have funded projects that enhance emergency response services, healthcare, and the national response to gender-based violence. This year, four organizations each received a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar grant. U.S. Ambassador to Belize, Michelle Kwan, shared that this event is the highlight of her ambassadorship.
Michelle Kwan, U.S. Ambassador to Belize
“Today was handing over a million U.S. dollars, uh, to civil society organizations, really doing incredible work as you heard from their speeches from the UNDP to RET International to Love Foundation and Galen University. Today, I am thrilled that we have a senior high level senior visitors from Washington. We have the Deputy Assistant Secretary Eric Jacobstein also having important meetings across, um, on shared issues and so today is just a spectacular event really celebrating and really acknowledging the hard work that’s being done across this country.”
Cherese Ferguson, Country Director, RET International Belize
“Our core commitment has always been to provide multidimensional solutions, including formal and informal educational initiatives with the goal of building the capacity of youth and women. to be positive change makers. When we realized that Objective three of the call included a focus on youth, we proceeded to start our research and put pen to paper. Adolescents are uniquely impacted by GBV, or gender based violence. Their young age and inexperience with relationships can heighten their risk for physical and sexual intimate partner violence. Being a victim of, a victim of G.B.V. during adolescence can lead to long lasting negative mental and physical health outcomes and can set young women on a trajectory for subsequent abuse. In order to combat these issues among youth, it is important to socialize them in a way that does not perpetuate violent behavior.”
“In terms of these grantees, it’s good governance, fighting corruption. And we have had grantees fighting on empowering youth and adolescents, as you heard from an organization today, one of the grantees. So across the board it’s providing assistance, building the capacity for the government of Belize addressing some real issues that concern civil society.”
Britney Gordon For News Five.
Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill to Combat Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
According to local crime statistics, ninety-nine percent of the sexual assault victims in 2023 were women. Eamon Courtenay, the Lead Senator for Government Business further noted that women are far more likely to experience sexual harassment in the workplace than men. To combat the scourge of sexual harassment, the Briceño Administration introduced an Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill to the National Assembly. The bill seeks to modernise the current sexual harassment bill currently in place. Among other things, it stipulates that companies must have in place an anti-sexual harassment policy and that victims of sexual harassment have up to eighteen months to make a report.
Eamon Courtenay, Lead Government Senator
“This bill and I want to start by saying this. We are repealing a bill that provides protection for sexual harassment. This is modernizing and improving that legislation. The point is this, it is already the laws of Belize that one should not sexually harass another person. it is already the law of Belize that there is protection for persons who believe that they are subjected to sexual harassment. This bill seeks to streamline, modernize and update the current legislation. It is a critically important bill in a society where far too often and it is mostly male, there is sexual harassment.”
Michael Peyrefitte, Lead Opposition Senator
“It is a good concept of a bill. It is a good bill. And there has to be a structure. It is excellent that it is fine tuned even more a process by which you can report sexual predators and there is a process where businesses are required to put out that policy to the public to let them know that sexual harassment is an offense and that it will be punished because it cannot be tolerated. I think the opportunity could have been used, I know it is there for the workplace and for the public, that the time to report it is eighteen months. Madam President I think that is kind of long. We are not talking Bill Cosby or anything. But I think if somebody is sexually assaulted, they should report it immediately.”