Attorney General Outlines Initiatives and Transition in New Role

It’s been a month since Attorney General of Belize Anthony Sylvestre was appointed to the post. Sylvestre took over in July from former Attorney General, Senior Counsel Magali Marin-Young, following her return to private practice. He told Love News that his previous experiences sitting on several boards have aided his transition into the role, but the biggest help has been the systems left in place by his predecessor. He also gave an outline of initiatives underway to further the work of the ministry. 

Anthony Sylvestre, Attorney General of Belize: “The first month in office as Attorney General has been quite an orientation but I need to express my gratitude firstly to my predecessor, Senior Council, Mrs. Marin Young. She has put in place an excellent system that allows for anyone to and particularly as it relates to myself, to be able to have come in and to hit the ground running. So the ministry has as its constitutional charge the responsibility of providing legal advice to the government in all areas. So it’s a matter of on a day-to-day basis different ministries may require legal advice on particular matters from immigration, from trade, then you also have as is part of the course persons bring litigation so we have a litigation unit that addresses that. There’s also an international affairs unit which deals with matters with respect to requests for extradition requests, deals with matters with respect to multilateral agreement, treaties, and in addition to that we provide advice as well to the cabinet. So, you know, it’s quite a lot but as indicated there is a system in place that have allowed for a smooth transition, and have allowed for things to continue to be operating very efficiently.”

The Attorney General’s Ministry is responsible for providing advice to the Government of Belize in all legal matters. There is an international affairs unit of the Ministry that handles issues such as extradition treaties and multilateral agreements.  The ministry is also tasked with handling any government litigation; however, the government has often times outsourced litigation to a law firm. The Intellectual Property Office and Vital Statistics Unit also fall under the purview of the AG’s Ministry.