And so while there is now a sexual harassment policy in place, and internal disciplinary charges will follow for the complaints, does the BDF need a more thorough probe to unearth a long history of anecdotal reports which point to a culture that abetted of sexual harassment?
That's what the press asked today:
Reporter
"Isnt it in the best interest of the BDF to make an inquiry based on what this investigation suggested?"
BDF
"I think what we can do in order to gain that information is to find a mechanism to actually attract the data, so whether it's by survey or we going individually to these camps like when we do these presentations to highlight some of these issues to try to get that information. That may be a possible course of action that is something that we are willing to do, a venture we are going to undertake eventually."
Jules Vasquez
"Is it that the command and the culture of the BDF also has to change that perhaps it is excessivelly male, perhaps it sees certain aggressive behavior as permissible and this leads to other types of infractions and violations."
Brigadier General Steven Ortega, Commander, Belize Defence Force
"In terms of male dominated, as you know we are trying to recruit more females, because we understand that they actually bring a lot to the fight. They actually play a vital role in terms of a different perspective."
Jules Vasquez
"However you will accept that people won't join if they feel that they have a fair chance of being victimized. I'm sure you must be aware that women are victimized."
Brigadier General Steven Ortega
"As you mentioned earlier that times are changing and so we have to change with the time and as Major Olivera mentioned that's why we are implementing change as we progressed, so the new sexual harassment policy actually addresses quite a few of those concerns for women and not only women, but male as well and those are some of the things that we continuously to evolve into for us to make the BDF a more welcome organization for all."
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