But when refugees finally get settled in, many become active and productive members of communities. UNHCR senior consultant Janice Marshall discussed this transition that is often overlooked by Belizeans.
Janice Marshall, Senior Consultant, UNHCR Belize
"World Refugee day comes everyday on the 20th of June and each year in Belize we try to find successfully integrated refugee to come and talk to people to show that this can be done, we have refugee teachers, we have refugee business people, in Valley of Peace which is mainly a refugee community who have many farmers who are providing much greater variety of vegetables, home grown vegetables in the market that we had before we had refugees so there are very many contributions that have been made and more and more refugees come with their own skills and if they are able to be recognized and able to work they can contribute to the communities in Belize."
The Barrow administration's position is that last year, 15 of 28 eligible persons were granted asylum - making it the first time in 20 years that refugee status was granted in Belize.
We should note that there are differences in the positions of the Ministry of Immigration on one hand and the UNHCR on the other.
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