By Aaron Humes: Agent for Belize at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Ambassador Assad Shoman, opened today’s arguments at the ICJ in Guatemala’s attempt to intervene in its case against Honduras over the Sapodilla Cayes by saying that Belize has no objection.
“The narrow question before the Court is whether it should exercise its power to permit Guatemala to intervene in these proceedings between Belize and Honduras. Consistently with the position Belize adopted in correspondence with the Court, Belize does not object to Guatemala being permitted to intervene, if the Court considers that it would be assisted by such an intervention,” Ambassador Shoman said, distinguishing the cases before the Court by noting that Belize and Guatemala jointly, in 2019 after referenda in both countries, asked the ICJ to settle their matter, whereas Belize instituted the 2022 claim against Honduras concerning the Sapodillas after “…it engaged in bilateral discussions and exchanges with Honduras, but Honduras did not abandon its claim to sovereignty over the Sapodillas. Belize therefore commenced the present proceedings to ensure the full resolution of all territorial claims against it. For Belize, the pressing issue remains the need for an efficient and complete resolution of all claims against Belize’s territory by Guatemala and Honduras. Belize considers that this objective will be best served by coordination of the two cases,” Shoman said, going on to suggest that the Court could hear the Guatemala case first, then Belize’s case against Honduras after with reference to the first case.
Shoman went on to note that the Guatemala-Belize case has been ready for a hearing for two years after the last of rejoinders between the countries, dating back to 2021.
Lead Counsel King’s Counsel Ben Juratowich then presented Belize’s arguments. It was common ground between Belize and Guatemala that the Court should hear the cases back to back, and secondly that Honduras did not make its claim to the Sapodillas known until 1981, after the infamous Heads of Agreement between the United Kingdom, Belize, and Guatemala, which had intended to resolve the claim before Belize’s Independence, but failed.
Thirdly, per Juratowich, Honduras failed to pursue its claim after 1981, but left it dormant; fourthly, it could have, but did not, intervene in the Belize-Guatemala case, and so there is no impediment to resolving the Belize-Guatemala matter.
Honduras’ claim has now been expanded to include traditional fishing rights in the Gulf of Honduras; Belize will object at the main hearing to lack of jurisdiction on this matter. Additionally, Honduras’ claim that the Sapodillas are “rocks” under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea is not relevant to the issue of sovereignty, Juratowich said.
Guatemala gets a rebuttal on Wednesday morning; Belize and Honduras will close the case in the afternoon, The Hague time.
The post Belize has no objection to Guatemala joining Sapodilla Cayes case; urges ICJ to settle territorial dispute appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Aaron Humes: Agent for Belize at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Ambassador Assad Shoman, opened today’s arguments at the ICJ in Guatemala’s attempt to intervene in its case against Honduras over the Sapodilla Cayes by saying that Belize has no objection. “The narrow question before the Court is whether it should exercise its
The post Belize has no objection to Guatemala joining Sapodilla Cayes case; urges ICJ to settle territorial dispute appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
