number of the amendments they suggested have been incorporated, or
are reflected in the revised proposals set out in the Report.
I
wish to record my thanks to them for their valuable contributions.
The Constitution will be drafted on the basis of the
Conference Report. It will also include to a large extent the present democratic institutions and procedures to which Belizeans have become accustomed and which have served Belize very well, though of course some adjustments will be necessary to take account of the change from dependent to independent status. One new element which seems to me to be a very useful innovation is the creation of a Belize Advisory Council, which will have a number of important functions, particularly, for example, in relation to the security of tenure of individuals occupying judicial and other high public offices and in relation to appeals against any act of the Public
Service Commission. It will also advise the Governor-General on
the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. It is of course imperative that its members should be persons of unquestionable impartiality and integrity and much discussion was devoted to the means of ensuring this. I think that most Belizeans will find the formula set out in the Report a very satisfactory one.
The Constitution will of course incorporate the usual checks
and balances that feature in the Constitutions of most other
Commonwealth countries. There will be a section on Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms which will elaborate in a comprehensive way the general principles set out in the White Paper. This will draw on the UN Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and it will be very similar to the equivalent section of other Commonwealth Constitutions,
particularly those of Caribbean countries. These rights and freedoms will of course be entrenched and like other entrenched.
clauses will require a three-quarters majority of the House of Representatives if any amendment is ever proposed. I should mention in this context that the Constitution as a whole will be protected from any amendment at all (other than minor amendments for which there is unanimous agreement) until after the next General Election following independence.
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