A tense legal battle is unfolding at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which 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. But the Belize legal team has put forward an argument that the hearings on two territorial disputes should be held back-to-back.
Belmopan is of the view that both cases, the long-standing Guatemala claim to Belizean territory and Honduras claim over the Sapodilla Cayes, are connected.
Ben Juratowitch, KC
Honduras first raised its claim in 1981, after the Heads of Agreement talks collapsed, and Belize is arguing that Honduras could have intervened in the Guatemala-Belize case but chose not to.
‘It would be sensible for the court to hold the hearings on the merits in the two cases back to back on the bases that Belize and Guatemala agree that the court would hear and resolve the merits of both disputes in a way that allows its deliberations in each of them to overlap. Belize does not object to Guatemala’s application,’ Belize legal counsel, Ben Juratowitch, KC, told the ICJ.
‘The second point of common ground is that Honduras did not make known its claim to the Sapodillas until 1981. That was when it became aware of the Heads of Agreement which contemplated discussions aimed at a compromised resolution of a broader dispute between the United Kingdom and Guatemala concerning the territory of Belize and which ultimately failed.’
He said that his third point is that having made a claim in 1981, Honduras then left it dormant, while his fourth point is that Honduras could have applied to intervene in Guatemala/Belize, but elected not to do so.
‘It is undisputed, as between the three states, that there is no impediment to the complete resolution of all of Guatemala’s claims against Belize. Those are the points of common ground between Belize and Guatemala’s submissions of yesterday.
Professor Carlos Jiménez Piernas
‘The next issue concerns two matters that Guatemala identified yesterday on which it said that it would not have a chance to comment unless its intervention were permitted. The first is the Honduran claim to traditional fishing rights,’ Juratowitch said.
Meanwhile, the Special Envoy for the Prime Minister of Belize, Ambassador Assad Shoman, said there are two cases currently before the ICJ concerning Belize’s territorial integrity.
He said in 2019, by way of a special agreement, Belize and Guatemala requested that the ICJ ‘resolve any and all legal claims of Guatemala against Belize to land and insular territories and to any maritime areas pertaining to those territories and to determine the boundaries between them’.
The envoy said that in 2022, Belize invoked the court’s jurisdiction in the present case with Honduras which concerns a smaller area within the same territory, but one significant to Belize.
‘A range of cayes in the south of the Gulf of Honduras called the Sapodillas. There are disputes between Belize and each of Guatemala and Honduras concerning sovereignty over those cayes.’
He said that before Belize instituted these proceedings, it engaged in bilateral discussions and exchanges with Honduras, but that country 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 both Guatemala and Honduras. ‘Belize considers that this objective will be best served by coordination of the two cases. How to achieve such coordination is, of course, a matter for the court.’
Shoman said that it would be logical for the court to hear Guatemala/Belize first and then immediately, or very shortly thereafter, to hear the more confined case of Belize/Honduras. ‘That would facilitate efficient use of the court’s resources. Participants in the second case could refer to matters already covered in the first and so, minimize repetition,’ he added.
But Professor Carlos Jiménez Piernas, the legal counsel for Honduras, said Guatemala is claiming an alleged interest in the Zapotillas case.
‘Guatemala could claim such in a case to which Belize is a party and in which the question of sovereignty over the case has been raised in the Gulf of Honduras. But the mere existence of a link between the proceedings that are being heard concurrently and in parallel, the court does not constitute, in and of itself, an interest of legal nature in the meaning of Article 62 of the statute.’
Piernas said that the existence of an interest of a legal nature belongs to a qualified category and according to the court’s jurisprudence, an interest of a legal nature that is affected must be precise, specific and well established.
‘Guatemala justifies its application on the basis of the alleged overlapping submissions of Belize in both proceedings. Furthermore, Guatemala notes that it has, and I quote, requested the court to adjudge and declare that the Sapodillas belong to it, end of quote.
‘These statements are not correct. Guatemala has stated in the submissions contained in this memorial of December 8, 2022, that were reiterated by referral in the submissions of its rejoinder that it was claiming sovereignty, and I quote, over all the islands occupied by Belize in the Gulf of Honduras,’ Piernas added.