Belmopan. May 17, 2016. Today, at its regular Tuesday meeting, Cabinet determined that there exist NO formal, nor legal, agreement between the Government of Belize and the NGO.
Help for Progress that authorizes Help for Progress personnel accepting application for refugees status in Belize, and to further conduct interviews and determine which applicant has a legitimate case or not.
All applications and the processing for recognition of refugee status, must be presented to the recently reactivated Refugee Eligibility Committee. During the few years of inactivity of the Refugee Eligibility Committee, no entity was empowered to conduct interviews to determine whether refugee applicants for refugee status had a legitimate case for consideration.
The guidelines for consideration of refugee status are very rigid, and are only considered if the applicant can prove a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons such as race, religion, nationality and political opinion.
Any entity other than the duly authorized Refugee Eligibility Committee involved in processing applications for refugee status considerations, should cease and desist from such activity.
Cabinet also requested that all applications be directed to the Department of Refugees which is housed at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Immigration Building, for recommendation by the Refugee Eligibility Committee.
