Groups campaigning for the legalisation of homosexuality in Commonwealth countries have welcomed a ruling by the supreme court of the central American state of Belize.

Section 53 of Belize’s criminal code, which banned ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’, was yesterday ruled unlawful after a three-year court battle. 

Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin agreed that Section 53 amounts to a violation of the constitutional rights to dignity, privacy, equality and non-discrimination on grounds of sex.

He found that there was no justification in the form of ‘public morality’ and therefore the law must be modified. He awarded costs to the claimant, Caleb Orozco, a Belizean gay man and prominent LGBT human rights advocate.

Orozco said: 'Our judicial system has been proven to be robust and unprejudiced. This judgment should give other oppressed minorities the confidence to speak up and stand up for themselves in situations of human rights abuse in the way I have. Our courts really are there to protect us all.'

He described Section 53 as 'a poisonous remnant of [UK] colonial rule'. Belize has been independent since 1981.  

The case had attracted interventions on both sides. The International Commission of Jurists, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and the Human Dignity Trust had joined as ‘interested parties’ in support of Orozco.

Meanwhile a group of churches including the Roman Catholic Church of Belize, the Belize Church of England Corporate Body, and the Belize Evangelical Association of Churches intervened on the opposing side.

Alex Ward, president of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, which passed a resolution on the ‘Decriminalisation of Sexual Orientation’ in 2009, said: 'This is a sound and just ruling which we whole heartedly welcome.

'It is the CLA’s mandate to uphold the rule of law across the Commonwealth and today marks a considerable success in maintaining the integrity of the Belizean constitution and protecting its citizens’ fundamental rights.'

According to the Human Dignity Trust, same-sex intimacy between consenting adults is a crime in 76 nations; 38 are members of the Commonwealth.