BELIZE CITY, Mon. Feb. 21, 2022– Today, the Government of Belize hosted a meeting with the media where those entities were encouraged to share their views on the draft Defamation Bill 2022 with the chairman of the Constitution and Foreign Affairs Committee, Hon. Julius Espat. The new bill will be used to repeal and replace the current Libel and Defamation Act, and, according to Espat, it codifies the common law and legislates specific defenses in the tort of defamation. The meeting with the media follows an outcry voiced by a number of media houses who had expressed objection to what had appeared at the time to be an “under the table” approach by this administration to the drafting of this new defamation law – which largely affects their work – without any consultation with those entities. A major concern is that this new law could be used as an upgraded muzzle that restricts the free flow of information, since traditionally public figures and high-profile persons have used the threat of defamation lawsuits to intimidate and at times even quiet established media houses.
The meeting today was geared at getting feedback on the draft legislation that has been released by the Government, and according to Minister Julius Espat, the bill will go back to the Attorney General’s ministry for additional tweaking, and they will await individual comments from the respective media houses by March 15.
“By the 15th of March, that information will be taken into account, and then we will send back the revised or proposed revised bill so that you can review it again. I think that is healthy for our democracy,” Espat commented. While defamation law has traditionally been a remedy to protect the reputation of persons, Minister Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Technology, has indicated that this new law seeks to strengthen the freedom of the press.
“I really want to make the point, this bill is really to strengthen freedom of the press, strengthen the rule of law, and the media is a fundamental part, component, of the rule of law in our country, and I think the bill goes a long way in achieving that objective. Obviously, as the Chairman just said, the purpose of these committee meetings is to get feedback on the bill to get your substantive comments on them. We will await those comments in writing. Once we receive those, obviously those will be taken into due consideration, those will be shared with the AG ministry and then taken back to Cabinet for further discussion, and so we want the bill to work for you. We want the bill to work for Belize; we want, as we said, a strong press that is protected.” Fonseca said.
Fonseca stated that while the provisions in this updated act will further protect the media, enshrining freedom of the press within our Constitution is a goal that will likely be met with support.
“In terms of the constitutional amendment, again that is something that you know the government is embarking on a constitutional reform commission, and certainly I believe that will be one of the recommendations put forward. I’ve heard it from others as well, so I think that it’s something that will certainly meet with support from many different parties,”
said Fonseca.
As mentioned, the defamation law has traditionally been used by various high-profile individuals and organizations to restrain media houses from reporting factually on newsworthy occurrences and issues. A number of highly placed individuals in Belizean society have traditionally thrown their weight behind defamation lawsuits to intimidate media houses into submission. Fonseca said that this consultation stage with the media houses is an opportunity to address those ever-present concerns, but in his view, the bill will provide more protection to media houses.
“We are going through the process. It’s not too late for that type of input. We had a good meeting today. You provided very good, I think you know, comments on the bill. Those will be taken fully into account, but in my view, my respectful view, the bill seeks to provide greater protection to the media,” remarked Fonseca.
He added, “In the past, under the common law, what we had sort of in a sense, greater leverage being given to the reputation of individuals, greater preference in a sense to the reputation of individuals at the expense of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and this bill seeks to correct that.”
The Attorney General, Hon. Magali Marin Young, in a media appearance stated that the bill is largely geared toward reining in rogue media platforms who use social media as their mode of dissemination.
“What the bill does provide for is it brings under the law unestablished media, so where you have Facebook pages or social media pages that are holding themselves out to be media houses or operating as media outlets, they are, of course, held accountable,” Fonseca said.