Head of the Male Social Participation and Violence Research for the Belize project, Dr. Herbert Gayle, Anthologist of Social Violence at UWI, Jamaica, met with five grieving mothers in Belize City this morning – among them activists Mrs. Yolanda Schakron and Mrs. Danalyn Murillo – as he draws to the final weeks of the comprehensive study. Gayle, encouraged by an appeal by Belize researcher Nelma Mortis of the Ministry of Education, has undertaken the extensive research in the hopes of helping Belize to put into effect a meaningful program to stop the tide of violence which, according to official data supplied to Amandala, has claimed 1,200 lives since 1993.
Gayle noted that Belize has surpassed the civil war benchmark of 30 murders per 100,000 citizens – a situation that is clearly a cause for immediate and effective response. As our newspaper has previously noted, the murder counts have more than doubled, from 48 in 1993, to a record 103 in 2008, when estimates placed our population at around 300,000.
Gayle noted that Belize has gone from being a virtually unknown country on the global scene, to becoming 10th on the crime list of Europol/Interpol, just within the space of a decade.
Mortis, who said she took interest in the issue while serving as executive director of the National Committee for Families and Children, explained that Belize cannot plan its crime strategy without the right information. The team hopes to draft a “pink paper,” which she said would outline what can be done.
The persons who are being engaged in the research project run the gamut: schools, media, mothers and relatives of crime victims, gang leaders, and prison and the police officials.
“Where do we go from here?” is the question that Dr. Gayle posed. He said that he would love to see “the rebirth of urban spaces in Belize.”
He extended a hand to the Belize media, with whom he held a meeting Thursday, May 20, to be partners in the effort. On Thursday afternoon, Gayle also met with representatives of the Chinese and Indian community in Belize.
The Gayle team hopes to close its research by the end of June.