4 weeks ago
5
Attorney General Sylvestre, in his contribution on the 13th Amendment, confirmed that every person would still have the ability to seek legal justice in the courts if they feel they were wronged under an SoE. He noted that any person detained by Police under an SoE would have the right to be informed within 7 days for the reason for detention and within 14 days an order is to be published in the gazette indicating the basis of the detention. Additionally, the AG noted that due process would still apply, and the government could still be challenged in the courts.
Anthony Sylvestre, Attorney General of Belize: “As it relates to due process, as things stand, any law, any provision, any measure of a government can be challenged in a court of law. That is the unlimited jurisdiction of the High Court and that still exists. All that has been done is inserted as a limitation period to say look all of those previous provisions, as all of those previous SOEs, if there is an existing court challenge, there is existing court judgment, those still stand. With respect to those previous ones those would have had to be brought prior. And what Statues of Limitation does is that they seek to create certainty. They seek to create finality. You cannot, when you think about it, the whole rationale why you tell somebody you only have 21 days or six years or in the case of a matter being brought against the government for one year it’s because all matter of things, all sorts of things can take place. You have somebody, third parties, may enter into the fray and the new persons, they have rights. So the purpose of the law is for order and certainty.”
According to Musa and Sylvestre, there are several other elements under the crime fighting strategy including the Leadership Intervention Unit (LIU); the Belize Education Upliftment Project (EUp) as well as other rehabilitation programs.
English (US) ·