Photo: Chief Executive Officer within the Refugee Department, Dr. Gilroy Middleton giving a welcome address on Wednesday

BELMOPAN, Wed. June 14, 2023

Personnel from the Refugee Department within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, and Immigration met with the media pool on Wednesday at the Phoenix Business Center in Belmopan. The discussions were led by Dr. Gilroy Middleton, Chief Executive Officer of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and Nikolai Zelaya, Legal Protection Officer. Also present for the discussions were Alexis Salazar, Refugee Eligibility Officer, and Jillian Marchand, Eligibility Clerk, who both spoke about the Refugee Determination Status. These events coincide with the approaching World Refugee Day.

Dr. Gilroy Middleton said that the focus should be on the Refugee Department, where, he said, there is currently “no backlog”.

“… Staff of the Refugee Department looks at the various processes that they go through … to demystify immigration,” he stated.

He clarified that, “Someone doesn’t simply cross the border and become a refugee; there is a detailed security clearance.”

According to CEO Middleton, Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Courtney reviews and provides comments on each applicant.

Middleton also reviewed the statistics for refugees for 2021, 2022, and 2023, when there were 89, 73, and 32 confirmed refugees, respectively. At least for this year, 78% of the applicants have been declined refugee status.

“We are making sure that the right persons come in to contribute to our economic development,” he said.

Mr. Nikolai Zelaya spoke about the Chapter 165 Refugee Act. Someone has to have a well-founded fear of being persecuted based on race, religion, and nationality, Zelaya noted. However, a person cannot be a refugee if he or she has committed a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity. Zelaya explained that once a person becomes a refugee, he or she can cease to be so when that person returns to his/her nation of origin or voluntarily becomes a citizen of Belize.

Meanwhile, Ms. Alexis Salazar confirmed that most of the applicants are fleeing their home countries due to gang violence. In Central America, for at least ten years, gangs have had a wide reach.

“Because of the wide reach of these gangs, more than likely they can find you,” she said.

The recognition or non-recognition of applicants for refugee status is determined by the ten-person Refugees Eligibility Committee, where the quorum for any meeting is six persons.

Belize intends to celebrate World Refugee Day on June 20, 2023. The theme for 2023 is “Hope away from home; a world where refugees are always included”.

World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honor refugees around the globe. It celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution. 

World Refugee Day was held globally for the first time on 20 June 2001, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. It was originally known as Africa Refugee Day, before the United Nations General Assembly officially designated it as an international day in December 2000.

At the end of 2021, there were 89.3 million forcefully displaced people in the world. By country, the biggest of such crises in the world is occurring in Ukraine, accounting for 14 million people who’ve had to leave their homes.

Belize is one of the countries that hosts people forced to flee from their homes due to violence, persecution, or human rights violations. The main organization protecting refugees in Belize is the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), located at #1 Marigold Street in Belmopan.

The UNHCR is also known as the UN Refugee Agency. It was created in 1950 to help millions of Europeans who had fled from or lost their homes during the Second World War. Today, UNHCR protects and assists millions of displaced and stateless people around the world. 
 
According to the UNHCR, the Northern Triangle of Central America – an area made up of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras – is fraught with danger. In 2020 alone, approximately 515,000 people sought refuge in neighbouring countries, and more than 300,000 were internally displaced inside the region.  
 
In 2018, political turmoil and persecution in Nicaragua also triggered a massive exodus in the region, with more than 102,000 people seeking safety in neighbouring countries, such as Costa Rica and Panama.  Already evident by 1980, the migration stream to Belize grew dramatically in 1984 and 1985 and again in 1988 and 1989, as a result of increased violence in El Salvador and Guatemala.

The/ coronavirus/ pandemic had exacerbated the vulnerabilities of people in the Northern Triangle. Lockdowns and restrictions of movement had allowed gangs to exert control over the distribution of food and medicines in certain areas, as well as to target people more easily. Furthermore, many had lost their livelihoods due to the pandemic’s economic impact, and violence against women had soared. 
 
Unaccompanied minors make up a large portion of those from the Northern Triangle who are seeking refuge. They undertake treacherous journeys alone to avoid gang recruitment, and face heightened risks of being kidnapped, trafficked, raped, or killed. 

Belize has welcomed many refugees in the past and — as was established on Wednesday— will continue to do so in the future. One thriving community that has been established, so asserts the Refugee Department, is the Valley of Peace, which has been an agricultural success story.