On November 5, 2026, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) issued a formal, strongly worded statement decrying the 2024 incident of non-consensual sexual touching and physical assault targeting female Belize Police Department officer Luanna Gillett at the San Ignacio Police Station, calling for full, meaningful accountability for the harm inflicted on the on-duty public servant.
The union highlighted that Durman Dawson, a former fellow officer of Gillett, has already been convicted on assault-related harm charges for the attack. The NTUCB emphasized that a person sworn to uphold national laws who perpetrates such violent, degrading acts represents a profound betrayal of personal professional duty, basic human dignity, and the public’s implicit trust in law enforcement institutions.
The NTUCB sharply criticized the staggering 32-month (two years and eight months) gap between the February 2024 incident and the final conviction verdict, noting that drawn-out, unnecessarily prolonged judicial proceedings amplify the trauma of survivors and steadily erode public faith in the accessibility and timeliness of formal justice systems, a principle the union summed up with the longstanding maxim: “Justice delayed is justice diminished.”
To ground its demands in global regulatory standards, the NTUCB referenced the International Labour Organization’s 2019 Violence and Harassment Convention (No. 190), which explicitly classifies workplace sexual harassment as a form of targeted gender-based violence that inflicts cascading physical, psychological, sexual, and economic harm on affected workers.
While the union affirmed full respect for the Belizean judiciary’s independent authority to hand down a lawful, appropriate sentence for Dawson’s conviction, it urged the court to weigh the full severity of the proven offense, documented victim impact statements, and all established aggravating and mitigating factors when determining the final penalty.
The NTUCB formally declared its full solidarity with Gillett across her intersecting identities as a woman, frontline public worker, and law enforcement officer. The organization also issued a broad call to all employers across Belize, including the Belize Police Department, to implement strengthened, enforceable safeguards against workplace sexual harassment, physical violence, and retaliation against survivors, paired with tangible, practical support systems for workers who experience harm. The union concluded its statement by rejecting common trivializations of workplace abuse, noting that sexual harassment is not a trivial “misunderstanding,” non-consensual physical contact is never acceptable, and misuse of institutional authority is not a privileged entitlement, stressing that gender-based violence against women can never be normalized or excused in any professional setting.
NTUCB Condemns Violence Against Woman Officer at San Ignacio Police Station
