Belize hosts international human rights conference
With incidents of police brutality being reported in record numbers it is perhaps fitting that Belize is the venue for an international conference on human rights. News Five’s Jose Sanchez was on hand for the opening.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
Over 40 lawyers from Belize, the United States, United Kingdom and the Caribbean have come together to look at the issue of human rights and the criminal justice system. The participants in the Regional Human Rights Seminar will discuss topics such as alternative methods of incarceration and cruel and inhuman punishment. They will use the knowledge they gain to promote human rights in their respective countries.
Simeon Sampson Chairman, Caribbean Human Rights Network
“We collaborate in fighting and assisting prisoners charged with serious crimes, especially murder, throughout the Commonwealth. Amnesty International, Penal Reform International and all the human right’s lawyers who are active in death penalty work are gathered here today to discuss recent trends, decisions coming out of the Privy Council and regroup and gear up for future challenges now that the Caribbean Court of Justice is coming into action. These are all the matters that we’ll be dealing with during the next few days.”
There is some concern among visiting lawyers over the government’s participation in the conference because Belize still practices the death penalty. Criticism has also been expressed domestically that Attorney General Godfrey Smith is soft on hanging.
Godfrey Smith, Attorney General
“Recently in the local press, I was accused of sympathizing with liberal do gooders from the former colonial power in putting on this “show” conference so they might instruct Belize on its backwardness in clinging to the outmoded and barbarous death penalty. Owing both to its provenance and provinciality, that statement can readily be dispensed with. Allow me to clarify the position. This seminar certainly does not have my sympathy, but it has my active support and participation. I view this seminar as important for several reasons: human rights in a very real sense have become the new theology of the modern world. There can be no doubt that the 21st century has dawned with the centrality of human rights. Not only within states, but also between states at the international level, and well should this be so. Human rights are essentially concerned with the respect for universal values and the fundamental dignity of the human being. Nothing can be more basic than this.”
Lawyers were not the only ones attending this morning’s session. Members of the Police Department were on hand to discuss what will no doubt be a key issue of debate. Alvin Bronstein of Penal Reform International says that police brutality is common in many countries and is the worst offence to the concept of human rights.
Alvin Bronstein, Penal Reform International
“People who are arrested must still be presumed to be innocent till they are found guilty by a court. They should be treated with dignity and they should be treated decently. The only power that
the government should exercise is restraint.”
Simeon Sampson
“The human right’s body in Belize is lobbying to the government of Belize to take remedial steps to ensure that the training of our local policemen should be of that quality that will tend towards the reduction of unnecessary, arbitrary brutality on the part of policemen upon detainee’s. That’s all we can do, educate.”
And over the course of the three-day seminar, there should be no shortage of that. Reporting for News Five, I am Jose Sanchez.
The conference runs through Thursday.
