The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is hearing an application by Guatemala into a land dispute that could reshape regional borders in Central America.
Belize is claiming ownership of a cluster of islands known as the Sapodilla Cayes, but its ownership is being contested by Honduras, and when the hearings began, Guatemala stepped in, seeking permission to intervene.
The Sapodilla Cayes, where the Caribbean meets the Gulf of Honduras, are a cluster of tiny islands. They are 14 specks of sand and palm trees, and for decades, these cayes have been more than a marine sanctuary, seen also as a geopolitical fault line.
The ICJ hearing is the latest chapter in a decades-old sovereignty battle that resumed when Belize filed its case back in 2022.
ICJ President, Iwasawa Yuji, addressing the parties reminded that the court is meeting under Article 84 Paragraph 2 of the Roosevelt Court, to hear the first round of oral arguments of the Republic of Guatemala on its application for permission to intervene in the case concerning sovereignty over Sapodilla Cayes, Cayos Zapotillos, Belize versus Honduras.
She said that on November 16th, 2022, Belize filed an application instituting proceedings against Honduras with regards to a dispute concerning sovereignty over Sapodilla Cayes, referred to by Honduras as the Cayos Zapotillos.
Yuji said in its application, Belize sought to find the court’s jurisdiction on Article 31 of the American Treaty on Pacific Settlements, signed on April 30th, 1948, officially designated, according to Article 60 thereof as the Pact of Bogota.
She said by an order dated February 2nd, 2023, the court had chosen May 2nd, 2023, and December 4th, 2023, as the respective time limits for the filing of a memorial by Belize and the counter-memorial by Honduras.
In her presentation, Guatemalan’s Ambassador, Cristina Rodriguez Pineda, told the court that the question of ownership is already before the court as a result of the case brought jointly by Guatemala and Belize through a special agreement concluded 14 years before Belize’s application against Honduras.
‘That case, pending before this court since 2019, concerns inter alia Guatemala’s insular claim against Belize for sovereignty over Cayo Zapotillos. Notably, Belize commenced the present proceedings just a few days before Guatemala was due to file its reply in the Guatemala/Belize case on December 8th, 2022.
‘This move by Belize has created an unfortunate procedural conundrum for the court. For the sake of consistency and efficiency, hearing the merits of the two overlapping cases, back-to-back, could be appropriate, particularly if Guatemala is permitted to intervene.’
The Guatemalan diplomat said that the interplay between the two cases is ‘ obvious.
‘It has specifically been acknowledged by Belize in correspondence and over the course of several meetings with Honduras. For instance, in notes verbals between April and October 2022, Belize sought to obtain guarantees from Honduras that it ‘would not assert a claim to the Sapodilla Cayes by way of application to intervene in the case before the International Court of Justice pending between Belize and Guatemala,’ she said.