Using International and Foreign Law in Human Rights Litigation: The Decriminalization of Homosexuality in Belize

摘要

International and foreign law is a powerful tool of transnational human rights advocates. Through litigation, advocates can create a global body of persuasive fundamental rights jurisprudence that can be used across borders. Using the August 2016 decision of the Belize Supreme Court in Orozco v. Attorney General as a starting point, this essay traces how LGBT rights activists are constructing a transnational body of jurisprudence decriminalizing consensual sexual relations between persons of the same sex. Belize courts had previously been receptive to international and foreign citations in other contexts, such as constitutional death penalty challenges. Advocates themselves, rather than judges, are the primary instrumental drivers of this jurisprudential ‘sharing’ process. The Belize decision is likely to be cited in future constitutional challenges against anti-sodomy laws elsewhere in the Commonwealth, helping to reinforce a global trend towards decriminalization of homosexuality.