Ambitious Domestic Violence Reform Faces Reality Check in Belize

A major overhaul of Belize’s domestic violence laws is on the table, but questions are already surfacing about whether the country is ready to make it work. Inside the National Assembly, lawmakers debated a new Domestic Violence and Intimate Partner Bill designed to replace the existing law with stronger protection for victims. But even as the promise of reform takes shape, concerns are mounting. Training for Senior Justices of the Peace, who are expected to issue interim protection orders, is still incomplete, and there are growing doubts about whether the Briceño administration has the budget to support the sweeping changes outlined in the plan.

 

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of State, Office of the Prime Minister

“There are interim protection orders by select senior Justices of the Peace. We do hope this can be rolled out very soon. The training is still taking place and in the eyes of many people it may be taking a bit longer than many would like to see.”

 

Lee Mark Chang, Area Representative, Mesopotamia

“The very most important question, because all of this on paper sounds good, where is the budget allocated for this bill? Where is the money Mr. Speaker? They just cut fifty-five million dollars out of the budget, maybe from Capital project, street repairs, or maybe some of that LIU money.”

 

Prime Minister John Briceno

“Its unfortunate we have this culture where men feel they can abuse women, whether physically, financially, emotionally and that is totally unacceptable. I know that my wife Rossana has been speaking out on this issue and even calling out the police. I think there are many people in the police trying, but there are some that still cant get out of that macho culture and also sometimes the police gets frustrated because a woman initiates a case and when things cool of they come back and say I want to withdraw those charges.”

 

 

Belize Crime Observatory data shows women make up seventy to eighty percent of victims, with young adults facing the highest risk.

 

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.

 

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