In a landmark ruling that reaffirms constitutional protections for fundamental civil liberties, Belize’s Court of Appeal has formally struck down two 2020 States of Emergency (SOE) declarations for Southside Belize City, finding the measures unconstitutional and ordering substantial damage awards to five men who were wrongfully detained under the policies.
The two emergency orders were first implemented by the Belizean government in March 2020 and again in July of the same year, granting law enforcement sweeping extraordinary powers to arrest and hold individuals in detention without formal criminal charges. Government officials defended the declarations at the time, arguing that a surge in deadly violence — including the murder of two children — created a public safety crisis that regular law enforcement frameworks could not contain.
Under Belize’s existing constitution, emergency powers that suspend core fundamental rights may only be invoked when a threat reaches a threshold of severity and breadth that outstrips the capacity of standard policing and existing criminal legislation. In its final ruling, the appellate court found the government failed entirely to meet this legal requirement, with no admissible evidence presented to prove a triggering event existed that could not be addressed through normal criminal justice processes.
The court emphasized that even shocking acts of violence do not automatically justify rolling back constitutional protections. “The evidence of seven murders including children in one day in a particular locality, as hideous as that is, cannot of itself be sufficient to support a declaration of a state of emergency,” the ruling stated. The court further clarified that any disruption to public order must rise to the level of widespread civil unrest that threatens a large number of lives before fundamental rights can be legally suspended.
Beyond invalidating the SOE declarations themselves, the court also scrutinized the procedural irregularities surrounding the detentions of the five claimants. Each detainee was given only vague justifications for their detention, broadly citing unspecified “gang activities” with no concrete evidence. Belizean law requires that all detentions under emergency powers be reviewed by an independent oversight tribunal, but the government never appointed such a body — leaving the men with no legal avenue to challenge their detention or question the grounds for their incarceration.
In line with damage awards granted to other plaintiffs who won similar related claims, the court has ordered the government to pay each of the five detainees — Shane Harris, Laquan Shemar Flowers, Dejon Joseph, Dimetris Gordon and Nukie Barrow — a total of $22,000: $15,000 in compensatory damages for the harm suffered, and an additional $7,000 in vindicatory damages to uphold the rule of law.
Deputy Solicitor General Samantha Matute led the government’s legal argument, alongside attorneys Jarvis Lou and Alea Gomez, while Leeroy Banner and Leslie Mendez served as counsel for the five detainees.