Belizean LGBT Rights Violations

Reposted: May 13th, 2016   International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia (IDAHOT) Press Release Already 100 reported murders of trans people in 2016 On occasion of the  International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia (IDAHOT) [1]  held on the 17 of May every year, Transgender Europe (TGEU) is publishing the Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) project [2]  update to join the voices raising awareness on this day about the multiple forms of discrimination and violence faced by LGBTI people worldwide. This update (TMM IDAHOT 2016) reveals  100 reported murders of trans and gender diverse people in 2016 , which is the highest number in the first 4 months of the year registered by the TMM project since 2008. In total,  the numbers add up to 2115 reported killings of trans and gender diverse people in 65 countries worldwide between the 1st of January 2008 and the 30th of April 2016 ,  1654 of which were reported in Cent...

14th March, 2016   On March 11th, I had the chance to walk with the 20,000 strong women march from B.T.L Park onward. It seems I will be late for my own funeral, but never the less, it was a taxi that allowed me to get to the back of the line. Why did I walk you might ask,its simple, for sister and mom. My sister, who helped to subsidize my life, when I was not working, she found a job for me at Lionel Welch Law Firm( who died) as an office assistant. As a result, I saved enough money on my credit union book that allowed me to borrow and pay back for my University Education. This was back in 2000 when I learned that the state will help with tuition, but gave me the responsibility to cover books and administration fees. It was my sister legal knowledge that built the foundations for my interest in law, provided support to do errands and have reports completed over the years. It was my sister I turn to when I need my KIA fixed for she was kind enough to marry a mechan...

7th March, 2016 The BLACK march or Be Loving And Cease Killing was organized at NAPA on March 17th, 2016 in Belize City. For the first time, we had, Tikkun Olam, a sex worker advocacy organization, along with three LGBT led community-base groups and organizations, Our Circle, EYBM, BYEC & UniBAM made is presence felt, as all recognize that crime is about citizenry that unites us  in our concern about personal security.  Security concerns that shows up data in crime from 2000-2015. For example, data for murder was 1553 persons,cumulatively over 5 years while there were 672 rapes and 7, 541 robberies as well.  Why is this important? The data reveal that violence is a loose social tool that forces people into a state of alert or psychological guard.           From a constitutional prospective section 3(a) offers protections for l ife, liberty, security of the person, and the protection of the law . 3(c)  offers us protectio...

Reposted: March 31st, 2016   30th March 2016: Trans Day of Visibility Press Release Over 2,000 trans people killed in the last 8 years  On occasion of the International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV) [1] held on the 31st of March every year, Transgender Europe (TGEU) is publishing the Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) project [2] update to join the voices raising awareness on this day about the multiple forms of discrimination faced by trans and gender diverse people worldwide. This update (TMM TDoV 2016) reveals 2,016 reported killings of trans and gender diverse people in 65 countries worldwide between the 1st of January 2008 and the 31st of December 2015, more than 1,500 of which were reported in Central and South America. Further analysis of this data shows that 65% of all murdered trans and gender diverse people whose profession was known were sex workers. [3] Throughout all six world regions, the highest absolute numbers have been found in...

Reposted: 29th March, 2016  The Enemy of My Culture is Religion March 23, 2015 by rwflint 12 Comments by Julio Saqui I am a Maya teacher in my village. One of the things I teach is about our culture and traditions. Having been in the cultural field and a cultural enthusiast for decades, I now firmly believe that RELIGION is the most destructive force on our Maya culture in my lifetime. Understand that I come from a family that valued our traditions and was proud of our culture. My grandfather taught my father, he taught me and my siblings, and we have tried to teach our children. It is a much more difficult task today than it was when I was a boy.   But what does Maya culture mean? Our Tradition & Culture teaches our children Survival, Respect, Dignity, Appreciation, Love and Togetherness. Maya culture is taught to us by our parents and elders, and it takes many years to fully understand our traditions. They include our at...

Posted 14th, January, 2015 May, 2016 will make it 10 years, that UniBAM has been investing in advancing its policy and advocacy priorities. It has built, its legal capacity through the University of the West Indies Rights Advocacy Project, in hiring Senior Counsel Moore to do its LGBT legal review in 2010 on the civil and socioeconomic concerns of LGBT population. It has partnered with Northwestern University, the Michigan Law Clinic to draft briefs for cabinet and in doing legal assessments of particular sections of the law.  Internationally, is has submitted two shadow rights for the Universal Periodic Review of 2009 and 2013 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights while submitting a request for thematic hearings at the Organization of American States in 2014.It has found resources to facilitate its international engagement e on its own terms and leverage that experience for national engagement.  In 2009, the Belize National Repo...

Post 12 January, 2016 We have never assessed Belizean law, what the constitution of Belize says about discrimination nor how current laws maybe inconsistent with the constitution. While the blog is about LGBT relationship security, it offers readers the opportunity to reflect about the implication of how the state tries to police the bodies of its citizens, in addition, legal penalties against citizens to comply with it's intent of securing public morality. An intent that is systematic, in denying women the right to use their bodies as they wish in sex work and  in general reproductive decisions; denying young people information to prevent pregnancy and general sexually transmitted diseases; the legal protection to found a family as same sex couples do not have the option of registering their parental rights as a couple; choice over health decision and forcing same sex couples to incur extra cost- in terms of acquiring power of attorney and making wills when succession of es...