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Stomping Out Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

A new sexual harassment legislation is seeking to hold employers accountable, to ensure that there is a zero-tolerance policy in workplaces across the country. The Anti-Sexual Harassment Act was recently debated and passed through the National Assembly with support from both sides of the aisle. It places significant emphasis on the workplace where sexual harassment may lead to a hostile working environment. In some cases, individuals engage in unwelcome sexual advances as a form of quid pro quo. Research shows that women are the most common targets of sexual harassment in the workplace. The Anti-Sexual Harassment Act mandates that employers must establish a sexual harassment policy and take immediate action when they become aware of a reported incident, among other requirements. In this week’s installment of the Five Point Break Down, News Five’s Paul Lopez takes a closer look at the legislation and how it stands to impact the workplace. Here is that report.

The Anti-Sexual Harassment Act

Paul Lopez, Reporting

The Government of Belize is making its position on sexual harassment in the workplace explicit with its Anti-Sexual Harassment Act. The drafting of the legislation was spearheaded by the Ministry of Human Development, headed by Minister Dolores Balderamos-Garcia.

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of Human Development.

“So basically now we are putting a serious onus on the workplace and the employers who control that workplace to ensure there is little sexual harassment as possible. Section sixteen of the act says if the employer is aware and knows that there is sexual harassment taking place, he or she has a responsibility to mediate, to let it be known and to take action. Then at that point if you have full awareness abo0ut it and do nothing there can be liability. We need to send the strong message that there must zero tolerance of sexual harassment. We hear reports within government, within organizations, within the private sector, it is real. It is real, sexual harassment is real and we have to send the strongest of message and messages that there needs to be accountability.”

What is Sexual Harassment?

The United Nations defines sexual harassment as unwelcome verbal or physical sexual advances, and request for sexual favors, especially when used as a term or condition for an individual’s employment. The Anti-Sexual Harassment Act places significant emphasis on the workplace.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

The Anti-Sexual Harassment legislation stipulates that an employer must make every reasonable effort to ensure that his or her employees are not sexually harassed in the course of their employment. One of the ways this is to be done is through the issuance of a policy statement in writing on prevention of sexual harassment. Employers must also ensure that they take the necessary steps to bring this policy statement to the attention of all employees. Employers and institutions are being afforded twelve months from the time the legislation is enacted to have such a policy in place.

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia

“We are saying that businesses must have an anti-sexual harassment policy and the policy should be in writing, especially again for the bigger places. Again, not the big organizations, but your organizations that have many employees. The organization that has the most employees in the country is the Government of Belize, we have a huge amount of government workers. So government and ministries will have to have their written policy and to promulgate it and make sure people know about it so that we send a strong message.”

The Anti-Sexual Harassment Debate

A blueprint of the anti-sexual harassment policy required in every organization is outlined within the act. The policy must speak to how an employer will deal with sexual harassment reports, disciplinary actions, the internal mechanisms to make such a complaint and guidelines for confidentiality. The policy must also clearly state that the employee has a right to seek redress through conciliation or from the court. The bill was recently debated in the National Assembly with full support from its members.

Eamon Courtenay, Lead Senator for Government Business

“It is a critically important bill in a society like our, indeed in any society, but in our society, and it is mostly males there is sexual harassment.”

Michael Peyrefitte, Lead Opposition Senator

“While people do get sexually harassed, once you are hit with that stigma and accused with that, whether true or not, that is with you for life. So it is also a serious thing to accuse somebody of it. It should be made aware that there are penalties for making false accusations and the like.”

Kevin Herrera, Business Senator

“There has to be an intolerance to this type of thing. And so, when it is identified, companies and organizations have a responsibility to act and ensure that they address that situation immediately,. That is an extremely goof thing because for far too long persons have suffered the indignities of harassment in many forms in this country.”

A Comprehensive Approach to Anti-Sexual Harassment

Minister Garcia explained that before the legislation is enacted, a period of two weeks is being given for further comments and recommendations. And, while the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill places emphasis on the workplace, it also focuses on stomping out sexual harassment in institutions such as schools, detention facilities and hospitals. There are also provisions that speak to landlords and their tenants. The legislation is described as comprehensive and far reaching.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Sexual harassment is mostly against women, but men are also sexual harassed. We have to take that into consideration. This is something that protects everybody, both men, women, at home, in the workplace, public, wherever it is. In school, where a lot of time we get complaints from parents about the harassment of their children, mostly daughters, but children in general. We had a long discussion about this in Cabinet so it is not something we are passing just for passing. We have to make sure we cover all the bases and that it is something that can work in Belize, in the workplace, in schools, to ensure we can give the protection our citizens need against sexual harassment.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

B.C.C.I. Endorses Goals of Anti Sexual Harassment Bill

We also reached out to the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry for its position on the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill. Just before news time B.C.C.I. sent a statement saying that it has reviewed and engaged its membership on the proposed bill. B.C.C.I. says it supports the bill’s objective of addressing sexual harassment in the workplace. The private sector organization noted that the bill provides clear guidelines for employers to handle cases of sexual harassment and provides a valuable policy framework for adoption, adding that it will benefit businesses and safeguard workers from harassment. On the other hand, B.C.C.I. says it has identified specific procedural aspects it believes can benefit from some revisions to strengthen protections for employees and employers. B.C.C.I. concluded the statement saying that it appreciates the National Assembly’s invitation for feedback on this legislation and that it will be submitting detailed suggestions through the appropriate channels.

B.I.M.F.F.: An Economic Boost for San Pedro

The Belize International Music and Food Festival had its hiccups, but it was a significant boost for business in San Pedro. While the official figures are yet to be released, the preliminary report is that the event provided economic stimulus to the town during the tourism off season. News Five’s Marion Ali spoke with the Chairman of the Belize Tourism Industry Association’s San Pedro Chapter, who said the event benefited everyone economically. Here’s that report.

Marion Ali, Reporting

The Belize International Music and Food Festival has been described as hugely successful from an economic standpoint. The event is said to be on par with San Pedro Lobster Fest. Chairman of San Pedro’s BTIA, Nicholas Scavone tells News Five that the population literally doubled over the weekend.

Nicholas Scavone, Chairperson, B.T.I.A., San Pedro Branch

“I had heard that it was fifteen thousand people attend the music fest. The population – the resting population of the entire town of San Pedro, right? That was there, so you had our fifteen thousand plus fifteen thousand that came in. Even though it was raining, people were out there in the rain dancing. There was food, there was music. All the restaurants were full, the nightclubs were full, the town was full; the suppliers and the grocery stores had just gotten their supplies that week, and already you could see the huge dent that the local uptick in tourism has put on that. So it’s really extended our season right through up to the end of July. It was a tremendous success and a tremendous economic push for our island.”

Preliminary reports are that hotel occupancy in San Pedro was significantly higher for people in that industry. Scavone says the festival, along with other major events are the reasons for the increase.

Nicholas Scavone

“We had a lot of people from the mainland, a lot of local people came in and enjoyed the time, taking advantage of the lower rates, and we did have quite a number of tourists that came down. Whether they came down specifically for the music fest or not, I cannot be sure but July, in general, saw a good uptick for I know we had some for lobster fest. We know there’s a traditional amount of people that come down for the lobster fest. We did have people that came over in some quantity for the fishing tournament that we have here and I can only think that the music fest added to that attraction, which kept them here, perhaps, but occupancies in the hotels were significantly higher than we normally would expect for this time in July.”

According to Scavone, the infusion of economic activity in San Pedro during the off-season is welcoming because it created good business for everyone who rely on tourism.

Nicholas Scavone

“A lot of it goes into the pockets of the hoteliers, the restauranteurs, the taxi drivers the people who sell the crafts, the bars Bowen and Bowen for selling their products, the wholesalers, the distributors, the grocery stores, because people come down and everybody stops off at the various grocery stores in there filling up. The benefits from that, just all-around vendors, all that money goes into their pockets. And of course the flow through from that is the increased level of GST we get, the fact that the B.T.B. gets more hotel tax coming in on the 9 percent of the uptick in occupancy.”

Estimates of revenues to the Belize Tourism Board have not yet been released. Marion Ali for News Five.

B.T.I.A. Says San Pedro Traffic was Chaotic Over Weekend

Scavone said that if there was one downside to the festival it was the chaos that the overcrowding caused to the traffic in San Pedro. The island town, known for already congested streets during peak time, was overwhelmed this weekend. Scavone said that there are other back streets that have recently been paved that helped in the flow of traffic, but the closure of others impeded the flow in those main areas.

Nichloas Scavone, Chair, B.T.I.A., San Pedro Branch

“Our roads are not built for the level and the quantity of tourists and golf carts that we get traditionally. Traffic is bad during season on any given day. It was particularly bad because they started closing off roads; they close off usually for Lobster Fest, they’ll close off just the one section by Sacachispas Park. But for this, they closed off the entire street, which really puts a crimp in the ability for carts to get around. Yes, congestion was a real problem; a lot of people, a lot of congestion, a lot of delays, a lot of just – I was reading he was parked by Minnelli’s Ice Cream and it took him half an hour to get a break in the traffic long enough for him to be able to back out of his parking spot. One of my employees here, our concierge, was going downtown and to get one block but for twenty minutes going through town. It was horrendous. But on the plus side, better to have a lot of people and have a little inconvenience than not to have any people and have free-flowing traffic. And we as the town has had a process of paving a lot of the back streets, so there are now alternative areas, alternative ways to get downtown and to bypass some of the main bottlenecks that we have so that has been a help.”

Benksaid Bembe Hits the Shelves for all Readers to Enjoy

Benksaid Bembe is officially for sale. The Kriol and English storybook written and translated by Belize Kriol language enthusiast, Silvaana Udz, hit the shelves today at the Angelus Press. The publication features illustrations from artist David Smith and promises pages of comedy and Belizean expressions that all readers can appreciate. Today, News Five’s Britney Gordon attended the book launch in Belize City for more details on the story.

Britney Gordon, Reporting

If you have ever been referred to as bembe, then chances are you enjoy a good argument. The word typically carries a negative connotation, referring to a bully or someone who’s confrontational. And nine times out of ten, it is a woman being labelled as such. But Belizean author, Silvaana Udz says that there is a little bit of bembe in all of us. Udz launched her first work of fiction titled Benksaid Bembe today at the Angelus Press.

Silvaana Udz, Belizean Author

“Benksaid Bembe. I believe everybody got a bembe inna dey. But, you know, the idea of this riverbank person weh inna everybody business. But ih da no really a bully bully. So, one of the things with Benksaid Bembe is, she get in a whole thing when tourists just mih dih start come da Belize, foreign visitors. And when they gawn da riverbank, they get in a big thing with what are the difference between Creole drum and Garifuna drum. And that’s basically the story.”

True to Belizean culture, the book is filled with laughter. For Udz, who had never published a work of fiction, it was a passion project. It was through the encouragement of her fellow Belizean authors that she was finally able to step into the genre.

Silvaana Udz

“I want to thank people like David Smith, weh do the cover and the illustrations, because that seemed fih draw in people when I had my first readers. And I also want to thank Ivory Kelly, who do pengereng stories, and lotta otha stories because Ivory Kelly and Colin B. Hyde, a columnist, and of course a writer himself, Invasion of the Mangrove Goons and all of that. I nuh mih a brave enough to do this thing. If they neva read it and tell me, yeah, guh deh strong. And give, then me give me some good feedback too, and mih make lee changes.”

Benksaid Bembe features both English and Creole translations, making it more accessible for children and non-Creole speakers. But it is not the average word-for-word translations. Udz explained that it is a meaning-based translation so that readers can understand the message and emotions of the passages. Krystal Dougal, Marketing Coordinator at The Angelus Press, says that the company was excited for the opportunity to support another Belizean author.

Krystal Dougal, Marketing Coordinator, The Angelus Press

“As you guys know, Angelus Press has been about for many years, for one hundred forty years to be precise. And when it comes to local authors or writers, we’re always all hands on deck with that because we believe that, you know, as a locally made business, we should support our locally made artists and writers and publishers. So that’s what we strongly believe in. Any person can come to us if they have inquiries about printing, all of those stuff, and we’ll definitely support them. Like, we had the luxury of having Miss Silvana’s book launch today. So that’s what we’re doing here, and we’re glad to support her and be the proud publishers for that.”

Udz has a long history with the preservation of the Kriol language and Belizean culture. This endeavor is another step towards ensuring that the language lives on in readers young and old for years to come.

Silvaana Udz

“And weh mih really, really strike me that some young people who done read it, when I mih di draft and so, they never know a lot of the expressions and sayings. Like, since Hachette da hammer you di wash gyal. They neva know weh that. So I hope da wa lee contribution as miss Ivory and Colin seh, but I hope they’re fun. More than anything else.”

Britney Gordon for News Five.

Faces of Belize Jazz Festival Here for Emancipation Day

Emancipation Day is almost here, and the Faces of Belize Jazz Festival musicians are ready to put on a show. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the festival which plays tribute to the rich culture and deep history of the holiday with a blend of Jazz, traditional music and orchestra. We stopped by the Ramada Hotel earlier today to speak with a few of the performers who travelled from abroad to be a part of this beloved event.

Jalen Charles, Tenor steel pan

“So I’m a student at N.I.U., Northern Illinois University in the United States. And one of the members of the band’s father actually came to N.I.U. for like a week. And he saw us and asked if we would be willing to come and help out the band play and stuff. it’s an opportunity that we are grateful to have been offered. And now we’re really excited that we could be here and just play, not just with a steel band, but with an orchestra as well and just even experience in Belize because this is my first time and all of us This is our first time in Belize. So we’re really excited for that.”

Hannah Sheridan, Celloist

“So I actually I was pretty lucky. I knew that my friends who were our steel and players were going and there had been a vacancy for a cello and my friend Joshua had said, Oh, I know a cellist. And put my name in and I think they needed me. And so I was here, I’ve been practicing the music for a couple of weeks. And yeah, I’m just really excited to play in this kind of ensemble. Usually I play classical cello and I don’t really get to be exposed to a lot of different kinds of musical ensembles and experiences. So it should be a new and fun and exciting experience.”

Carlos Perrotte, Director

“We are blending traditional music from Belize, from, with jazz, with classical music. And we have a big amount of musicians that will participate, around seventeen musicians, internationally and local musicians. That will be this Saturday, seven o’clock, in this room, Princess Ramada room. And we are inviting everybody that want to come and enjoy Belizean fusion music.”

Britney Gordon

“And what countries are the artists coming in from?”

Carlos Perrotte

“We have musicians from Mexico. So we have musicians from the US and also from Trinidad and Tobago.

Britney Gordon

“And how much does it cost to come be a part of it?”

Carlos Perrotte

“General is thirty, reserve is fifty. You have to hurry because most of the reserve is already gone.”

Attorney Denied Access to Imprisoned S.O.E. Minor

Tonight, a thirteen-year-old boy is incarcerated at the Belize Central Prison where he will remain at the Wagner’s Youth Facility for the duration of a ninety-day state of emergency. The teenager, a resident of Belize City, was swept up along with dozens of other young men from various neighborhoods that have been deemed as hotspots for gang-related crimes. On Monday, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams weighed in on the minor’s detention. The Minister of Human Development and Social Transformation also commented on the situation, amid public concern regarding the boy’s imprisonment. Earlier today, attorney Leslie Mendez visited the Wagner’s Youth Facility to speak with her young client but was denied access and informed by prison authorities that she needed to obtain a court order to gain access to the teenager. In a letter written to Home Affairs Minister Kareem Musa and C.E.O. Virgilio Murillo, of the Kolbe Foundation, Mendez states, quote, “upon reviewing the Belize Constitution, Statutory Instrument No. 94 of 2024, and Statutory Instrument No. 99 of 2024, I found no provision that exempts or conditions a detainee’s right to access legal representation, much less that of a child detainee. In fact, both the Belize Constitution and Statutory Instrument No. 99 of 2024 explicitly recognizes the right of detainees to legal representation,” end quote. Mendez goes on to write, quote, “this request is made especially in light of information received regarding my client’s detention conditions, which indicate that he is not merely detained, but is being held in what the prison authorities refer to as the “hole”, We underscore that, in all decisions affecting a child, the best interest of the child must be the paramount consideration. Here it appears that a tactic of preventative detention is being employed against a child, which is in direct conflict with multiple international human rights conventions, more notably the Convention of the Rights of the Child, to which Belize is signatory,” end quote. We note that in an interview with ComPol Williams on Monday, he said that the minor is being held in detention because he is a threat to himself and others around him.

Prison CEO Says 13-year-old Youth Is Now in the L.I.U. Program

According to Police Commissioner Chester Williams, the boy has been part of intervention programs before but that nothing seemed to have been effective in his life. News Five contacted Virgilio Murrillo, the C.E.O. of the Kolbe Foundation which manages the prison facility and the Wagner’s Youth Facility where the thirteen-year-old is being held. Murrillo told us via WhatsApp that because of the boy’s tender age, he was placed by himself for a couple weeks, whilst the administration gauges the temperament of the other youngsters in his presence. Murrillo said that today the boy is amongst the others and that the administration sees no danger with him there. He added that the youth is a part of the intervention programs being offered by the L.I.U and Nuri Mohammed. Murrillo also told us that the youth is not being treated differently from the rest of the youths in the facility. He informed us today (quote), “they are offered all the rights and privileges other prisoners enjoy. The only difference with them is their programming with the L.I.U and Brother Nuri, because the other prisoners who are convicted and remanded don’t participate in those intervention programs. We are certain he can live amongst the others. They are a little older, but still under the age of eighteen years. Suffice me to say that the youth will be very safe in this environment until he is removed. That, I will guarantee”, (end quote). Police Commissioner Williams also said he would try to get in touch with the youth’s mother to see what other help can be rendered.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“I have not spoken to her personally. Perhaps I should, and I will pledge so to do but I know that the mother is aware that her son is problematic. She’s quite aware of that. She has reached out to somebody for help and that person had reached out to me. And so I will try my best to see if I can meet her sometime this week and see what we can work out together to try and help the young man, because perhaps he does need help. So we’ll just see how we can do that. We have the lead interventionist, Brother Nuri going into the prison twice a week, and doing interventions and mentoring to these young men. I think it’s a very good way for us to be able to help him and others who are there to really and truly reflect on why they are there, and as well as to find ways and means as to why they would not want to get back there.”

Should the Death Penalty be Removed from the Law Books?

Proponents of the death penalty argue that capital punishment is a deterrent to murders. But attorneys who oppose the death penalty argue that a return to the death penalty is a step backward. Senior Counsel, Godfrey Smith and Co-Executive Director of the Death Penalty Project, Parvais Jabbar, both provided pro bono advice and representation to Jared Ranguy. In March, he pleaded guilty to the 2011 murder of his mother, sister and stepfather in Ladyville. Two weeks ago, Ranguy was given three life sentences. Jabbar and Smith spoke today with Belizean journalists on their common perspective on the topic and News Five’s Marion Ali filed this report.

Marion Ali, Reporting

It remains on Belize’s law books as the maximum possible punishment that may be imposed when someone is convicted of murder, but it has never been applied since June nineteenth, 1985, when Kent Bowers was executed. That was forty years ago. And the last time it was handed down as a sentence was over twenty years ago. Seasoned attorneys Godfrey Smith and Parvais Jabbar want the death penalty removed from Belizean lawbooks because they staunchly believe that no one who has committed a murder is deemed irredeemable. Jabbar points to the Jared Ranguy case, summed up only two weeks ago with three lifetime sentences for three family members.

Parvais Jabbar, Co-Executive Director, Death Penalty Project

“What the decision on sentencing in Ranggai does, it follows a very long line of jurisprudence, which is established, as you say, that death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst, or somebody who is beyond reformation. It doesn’t say that person shouldn’t be punished. It doesn’t say, they’re not saying, for example, in this case, we are not applying the death penalty because we don’t want to. It’s a personal opinion. It’s a political opinion. They’re saying death penalty is not appropriate.”

Godfrey Smith, Senior Counsel

“People seem mistakenly, in our view, to think that it could be, to be any kind of deterrent. It would have to be imposed on a large scale of offenders in a very swift fashion. Which it can’t be because it’s reserved for the worst of the worst and the rarest of the rare. And, forty years it hasn’t.”

Smith and Jabbar share the view that policymakers ought to be focusing more on improving the justice system and the factors that drive crime and murders.

Godfrey Smith

“Those who think about policy and think about policy to drive change, what should be thought about is not the death penalty at all, but how we can effectively improve policing, the criminal justice system, and the socioeconomic conditions that are conducive to and lead to criminality.”

Jabbar also points to the inefficacy of the death penalty on the lawbooks as it relates to controlling the conviction rate. He and Smith also point out that there are irreversible errors that are made when state sanctioned executions occur. And where Belize is at on the global map on this topic, Jabbar says that two thirds of countries around the world have abolished the death penalty from their laws. Belize remains among the minority that still have it enshrined as law.

Parvais Jabbar

“There are one hundred and twenty-six countries that are totally have abolished the death penalty for all crimes or ordinary crimes. There are another forty countries which are considered A.D.F. So Belize comes in that category. And then you’re looking at thirty-five, thirty-six countries left that actually execute. If you look at the global picture, and if you compare it to, say, fifty years ago, it was the other way around. It was seventy-five with the death penalty, twenty-five without.”

Smith believes that the conversation in Belize should begin now on removing the piece of law that is never applied anymore in Belize’s courtrooms.

Godfrey Smith

“Each time there appears to be a rise in crime or is a rise in crime. Some people reach for a return to executions, and we think that this. Session that we’re having right now with media hosts is an important start to the conversation and should lead to deeper conversations and deeper reflections, especially by those in government to consider which direction it wishes to go.”

Marion Ali for News Five.

Wife Says Police Husband Threatened Her with Gun

A policeman stationed in the Corozal District stands accused of threatening his wife with a firearm. There has seemingly been a change of heart on her part of not wanting to proceed with the matter, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams indicated that the court would deal with that when it arises there. The policeman he said, has been arrested and charged, and any internal tribunal would be dependent on what happens at the court.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“That policeman have been arrested and charged and he’ll be going to court this morning. From what I get to understand is that the wife have no retract her statement, but we are not accepting that. We’re saying to her that if it is that she no longer wish to proceed to court, then she have to go to the court and inform the court of that. We are proceeding with the matter before the court this morning. We have to wait to see what the court is going to do because for us to be able to proceed with internal charges against him, we do need her as well. So we have to wait to see what happens at court.”