Fonseca Disagrees with ComPol on Child Lock-up

This morning, ComPol Williams publicly said that he felt the child should have remained at Wagner’s to receive the rehabilitation that he needs. Today, when asked by reporters how he felt about the matter, the Minister of Education disagreed with the commissioner and said he was of the view that the child should have been placed in a different setting from the start.

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“The thirteen-year-old should not have been at Wagner’s Facility, should not have been in prison. I’m glad that they have moved him to the New Beginnings Centre, is where he is now. I think that was what should have been done in the first place. That is where he should have been sent in the first place. The Commissioner is right that there are serious challenges. We see that phenomenon growing where gangs are targeting these very young people. It’s not only in Belize. This is happening all over to commit very, very serious crimes. So we have to take it seriously, but we in Belize understands that we have international obligations. We have to make sure that we’re respecting the rights of children in particular, so that’s critically important, despite our understanding and appreciation that these are serious crimes being committed by some very young people, that we should do everything we can to make sure that we put them in the proper facilities where they can get the support and guidance that they need.”

 

Reporter

“Do you believe that the Convention on the rights of the child was breached in this case?”

 

Francis Fonseca

“Yeah, you know, I don’t think so because they had him in a separate space. He wasn’t among the general population of prisoners, so he was in a separate space but even so I’m not comfortable with that. As I said, it took some time, but I’m happy that it’s now resolved and that he is where he should have been in the first place.”