Fonseca Says No Need to Worry About Biometric Data Sharing

The government has just signed a new agreement with the United States that allows both countries to share biometric data. That means if someone’s trying to enter Belize and there’s suspicion of human trafficking or terrorism; border officials can now request their police records from the U.S., and vice versa. Sounds like a smart move for safety, right? Well, not everyone’s convinced. Some Belizeans are worried about privacy, especially when it comes to the U.S. having access to their personal data. So, should we be concerned? We put that question directly to Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs

“Anybody who travels to the United States, their data is collected. You apply for a visa, data is collected. So this is about protecting our borders. This is about border security, this is about public safety.”

 

Reporter

“This is about protecting their border”

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs

“Yeah, they have an interest in protecting their border. But we have an interest, as I said, I sit on the National Security Council, we are very concerned about the movements of people across our border for criminal activity based on criminal activity. We don’t have the capacity to monitor the effectively, so we need the support of a country like the United States. So For me, it’s absolutely clear that this is critically important, and as I said I am absolutely satisfied that there are full safeguards in place to protect the privacy of individuals. Like I said, The entire memorandum of corporations is based on national law so it does not override any national law. So you have the protection of your Constitution, protection of national law and as I keep pointing out its based on our request basis which the government of Belize then through our facilities will be able to process and look at and respond to that request.”

 

Reporter

” I don’t want to sound conspiratorial but you can see how persons in the public might say well if they assist us with the technology then it’s not unheard of for persons who designs such technology to have a back and capture and ability to take something out of the back end even though the front end might have all these safeguards.”

 

Francis Fonseca

“If people are a cynical as you are yes they will come to that and conclusion. but as you know the United States government they can get any information they want on anybody, they have the capacity for that so this is putting in place a structured process corporation arrangement where we work together as I said for a shared goal on commitment.”