Human Rights Commission helping migrants navigate amnesty application

Meanwhile, Belize is continuing – and has extended – its ongoing amnesty program for migrants, who have been living in Belize. The process is a painstaking one, which involves accessing an online portal, running medical tests and many questions. That’s why the Human Rights Commission has been assisting the migrants through that process. We asked the commission’s board president, Leo Bradley, Jr. for an update.

Leo Bradley Jr, President, Board of Directors, HRCB: “We have collaborated with the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees so along with them along with IOM International Organization on Migration and collaborating with other entities we have been assisting and basically in the grassroot we have gone to – the last two villages that I went to was eye opening to me. It was in the Toledo district we went to a village called Blue Creek and we went to another village called Santa Cruz and it was eye opening for me because they’re right on the border with Guatemala so I was amazed to see that we have persons and the stories that we heard people who have been here twenty five, thirty five years, have x number of children all of whom have been educated in Belize, have married Belizeans and basically they are Belizeans for all intents and purposes just that they don’t have the piece of paper that says and so that is what we have been doing. It’s really a rudimentary, basic you know assisting in filling out of forms, ensuring that their pictures are taking, ensuring that the medical doctors see them so that that forms a part of their application etc.”