AG Says 13th Amendment is “enhanced” and “improved” Law

The government says it’s not just making changes for change’s sake. In defending the Thirteenth Amendment, Attorney General Anthony Sylvestre pointed to a real-world example, Trinidad and Tobago’s recent use of its state of emergency laws. According to the AG, Belize’s proposed legislation goes a step further. He says it strikes a better balance, protecting the rights of citizens while still giving the government the tools it needs to act in the public’s interest. So, how exactly does it work?

 

Anthony Sylvestre, Attorney General

“It is a necessary and important tool that the state must have. Recent events in Trinidad, the current government I think it is only two months in its administration and it had to implement a state of emergency that it was critical of in the previous administration. What this shows to me is that it is an important tool that a state needs and comments, criticism, critiques may be made but ultimately it has to and is necessary where justifiable and upon reasonable suspicion and those mechanism that has been inbuilt in the Thirteenth Amendment is not there in the current SOE regime in the constitution. So, it is actually an enhanced and improved way in which addressing crime, detecting, investigation and controlling crime would be able to be done in a balance way both in terms of the citizen’s rights and the public interest for the general citizenry.”