Mapping Trends of Research on Human Rights in Belize (2000-2025)

Abstract

Abstract

The overall purpose of the study was to map the trends in academic, peer-reviewed research on human rights in Belize, published between 2000 and 2025. This review was produced using a structured, reproducible, bibliometric methodology. The data was harvested from Google Scholar using Publish or Perish software. The initial search string “human rights” AND “Belize” generated over 330 articles. Follow-up searches using terms such as “violence” and “Belize,” “Garifuna and Belize,” and “disabilities and Belize” were used to ensure that key articles were identified. Duplicates, non-peer reviewed materials, doctoral dissertations, reports and other grey literature were excluded from this bibliometric analysis. After screening, 95 peer-reviewed journal articles, books, and book chapters were included for final analysis. The results showed that academic literature on human rights in Belize covered various topics such as indigenous land rights; indigenous people’s rights (non-land) (Afro-descendant/Garifuna and Maya); gender identity and LGBTQ+ rights; business/economic human rights violations; health and human welfare, including HIV/AIDS; women and children’s rights; crime violence and citizen security; gender-based violence; education social justice, and human rights; Inter-American Human Rights system; borderland rights; environmental injustice and human rights abuse; legalizing human rights in the Caribbean; gender identity and LGBTQ+ rights, and disabilities rights. Still, research on human rights in Belize remains wide open for future work.

Keywords: bibliographic analysis, academic literature review, human rights, Belize, Publish or Perish