_{Photo: Major (Ret’d) Herman Gilbert Swazo, Ombudsman of Belize}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 10, 2024

Today, Thursday, October 10, Belize observed Ombuds Day 2024 at the Battlefield Park in Belize City under this year’s theme, “Here to hear you; fairness and justice matters.”

It was first recognized by the International Ombuds Association in 2018 by the countries that have the position filled, and was celebrated on the second Thursday of October. However, in Belize, the day wasn’t recognized until last year when Major (Ret’d) Herman Gilbert Swazo was appointed for the position.

The role of the Ombudsman is to provide a check on government activity in the interests of the citizen, and to oversee the investigation of complaints of improper government activity against the citizen.

“There has been a lot of misinformation; [some people] believe that we’re just an office that can deal with people who might have some grievance against a police department; when, in fact, we’re an office that looks at human administration corruption and justice abuse by pretty much any public authority. What we proffer as public authorities is pretty much any government agency that can provide a ministry; or even a minister, they would be considered public authorities,” said Emmanuel Ortiz, Legal Officer at the Office of the Ombudsman.

“If you have any complaints against the public service or any government department or ministry, either it’s you’re not getting your pension early or any service, we receive that complaint and launch an investigation; and based on that, we would send a special report to the Cabinet informing them of all the investigations and all the questions that we’ve made, so we can have a serious and easier interaction with these departments and ministries,” Ortiz added.

Major Swazo told the media that 190 complaints were submitted to the office surrounding several issues within the police department, the central prison, social security, and others.

“We’ve also taken measures to place those reports in Dangriga and Belize City and to place them in other municipalities so it is accessible for people to view,” he said.

Additionally, Ortiz highlighted that the Office of the Ombudsman is using social media to spread its information and awareness to those persons who are unaware.