Outcome Report >> Belize, Comment, 31 Session November 2018

Federatie van Nederlandse Verenigingen tot Integratie Van Homoseksualitaite – COC Nederland, in the joint statement with the International Lesbian and Gay Association, thanked the members of the Human Rights Council for the recommendations formulated on sexual orientation and gender identity, 15 of which were accepted by the Government of Belize. They welcomed the announcements made by Belize, during both the universal periodic review and the Human Rights Committee sessions, regarding its work with the National AIDS Commission to advance anti-discrimination legislation. However, they remained concerned that no deadline had been set to present the anti-discrimination bill to parliament and that, after nine years of accepting recommendations to develop a national human rights institution, no deadline had been defined to conduct and finalise a feasibility study. Furthermore, they noted that the gender equality framework that had been developed on paper was not fully implemented and that a strong accountability mechanism to address abuse of power by police officers was still lacking. [Para 778]