Senate Unites Behind Domestic Violence Bill

Last November, the Government of Belize introduced sweeping legislative reform to the country’s domestic violence legislation. Today, the Senate debated the Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence Bill. In a show of solidarity, senators threw their support behind the proposed legislation, arguing that it places strong focus on the victim and on relationships outside of marriage and common law. All senators agreed that no one should have to live in fear and that protection must be mandatory.

 

Eamon Courtenay, Lead Government Senator

“Domestic violence is a serious problem in our society. One of the primary purpose of the bill is to take account of the fact that in the current domestic violence bill there is a presumption that domestic violence occurs in a relationship or marriage setting. This seeks to recognize that people are in other relationships and can be abused very violently, physically mentally, psychologically, financially, etc.”

 

Patrick Faber, Lead Opposition Senator

“Too many Belizean women and some men and far too many children live with violence behind their own front doors. Too many of our constituents have told us the same story, the police did not come, or they came and left. The court was closed. The order was never served. The perpetrator was back in the house by the weekend. Some of those stories ended in funerals.”

 

 

Louis Wade, Church Senator

“There are relationships we approve of and there are relationships we do not approve of. We also believe that there are certain relationships that are the gold standards, which is marriage and there are other relationships and this bill focuses on the victim, because one thing we can all agree on is that nobody deserves to be beaten, to be victimized, nobody should feel that they are a prisoner, that they are owned or that the system is not hearing them or responding effectively to them.”

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

Watch the full newscast here: