GOV'T PUSHES FOR ZONES OF SPECIAL OPERATIONS ACT

CCNTV6

The government plans to remove the country from under a National State of Emergency and replace it with "Zones of Special Operations."   The Attorney General expresses confidence that the draft legislation which is expected to go before Parliament this week, can be justified in law.   Details on how the law intends to function have not been divulged at this time, and the question remains, what will happen to those who were detained under the present SoE?   Alicia Boucher has the details from the United National Congress Press Conference.

Transcript

00:00The threat from within and outside of prison walls which existed in terms of the formation

00:05of a criminal enterprise wanting to wreak havoc on the country, prompting the imposition of a

00:10state of emergency, has been neutralized. So says Attorney General John Jeremy, Senior Counsel.

00:17Based on what the government calls the tangible benefits of the SOE, another course of action is

00:22being pursued as the SOE is set to come to an end on January 31st. The disclosure comes from Jeremy

00:29as the government points to a 42% reduction in homicides inclusive of gang-related murders

00:35as at the end of December 2025 when compared to 2024. Statistically, it translates into 626 murders

00:44versus 369 murders. We intend to lock in those advantages which have yielded tremendous results

00:55in terms of the drop-in homicides, the drop-in woundings, and the drop-in violent crime

01:02in general. And our first attempt to do that would be with respect to the ZONES legislation.

01:11Jeremy is expected to move the second reading of the Law Reform Zones of Special Operations,

01:17Special Security and Community Development Measures Bill 2026 in the House of Representatives

01:22on January 16th. Two other bills, namely the THA Amendment Bill 2026, and the Motor Vehicles

01:31and Road Traffic Amendment Bill 2026, will also go before Parliament that day. At this time,

01:38very little has been disclosed on what the ZONES of Special Operations Bill entails.

01:43Of course, I cannot speak to the specific provisions of any of these bills, but the legislation which

01:51is before the House is intended to ensure that there is a measure of proportionality between our responses

02:06and the threats which we now face. So that instead of a national state of emergency,

02:15we propose to concentrate on hot spots.

02:20The confirmation from Jeremy comes after information was leaked to the media last week

02:24that staff at the AG's office were engaged at a time in the drafting of the ZONES of Special Operations

02:30legislation, which is to function like community SOEs. Other unconfirmed remarks were made in the

02:38dissemination of the information pertaining to curfews, arrests and charges, and detention.

02:43In addition, the constitutionality of it was brought into question.

02:48Well, as the country awaits more details, the AG has this to say.

02:53There is legislative precedent. I think I can say that without going into the bill.

03:00There is legislative precedent for what we propose to do.

03:03There are checks and controls. There will be judicial oversight. There will be some time constraint

03:12in respect of how long a designation of a particular zone of operation, how long that designation

03:21can last. And there will be procedures set in the bill to govern who exactly can declare somewhere

03:33a zone of operation.

03:34As for what happens to over 100 people who have been detained under the present SOE,

03:40and if their detention would be sustained or be discontinued, here's the AG's response.

03:46The logistics which are being worked out by the Minister of Homeland Security and the police

03:53as we speak. And I would not like to speak to that today.

03:59Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.

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