Photo: Sapodilla Cayes (Google Map Image)

The International Court of Justice has invited Belize and Honduras to deliver written observations related to Guatemala’s application for permission to intervene. 

by Marco Lopez

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Dec. 11, 2023

Article 62 of the Statutes of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) allows a state to submit a request to be permitted to intervene in a case if they feel the decision of a case may affect a legal interest they hold. The ICJ has been tasked with deciding whether or not to allow Guatemala to intervene in the case concerning sovereignty over the Sapodilla Cayes – otherwise known as the Belize v Honduras case. On December 1, Guatemala applied to the ICJ’s Court of Application for permission to intervene in the case, citing its overlap with the Guatemala v. Belize case currently ongoing in the international court.

In a release issued by the ICJ today, Guatemala contends that it has “a clear interest of a legal nature [in the Belize v Honduras case] since…it has a longstanding claim of the sovereignty over the Sapodillas.” The Central American nation indicates that the objectives of its intervention are to: a) protect the rights and interests of Guatemala over the Sapodilla Cays by all legal means available, and b) to inform the court of the nature and extent of Guatemala’s rights, which may be affected by the Court’s decision on the issue of the sovereignty over the Sapodillas.

The application also seeks to ensure that the court’s decision does not prejudice the legal rights and interests of Guatemala.

Belize contends that since the early nineteenth century, the Sapodillas have formed a part of its territory, initially as a part of the settlement of Belize and later as part of the colony of British Honduras. Since independence in 1981, the group of cayes lying at the south tip of the Belize Barrier Reef has been a part of the independent State of Belize.

Belize is arguing that under international law the country is sovereign over the Sapodillas and that the Honduras claim which is articulated in its 1982 Constitution and remains in force, “has no basis in international law.”

On 2 May, Belize filed its Memorial, and on December 4, Honduras filed its Counter-Memorial within the fixed time limits, according to the release.

In November 2022, Belize fast-tracked the ratification of the Pact of Bogota in order to take Honduras’ unresolved claim to the ICJ. At the time, in the Senate meeting during which the announcement of that fast-tracking was made, Lead Government Business Senator, Eamon Courtney said, “If, as we believe is likely, Honduras applies to intervene in the case now before the court, it is likely to affect the Belize-Guatemala case. Once the ICJ becomes aware of a claim by Honduras to the Sapodillas, there is a significant risk that the court would not delimit the Maritime Areas that appertain to the Sapodillas, thereby leaving unresolved a large part of our maritime entitlement. 

“Indeed, the ICJ may decide not to pronounce sovereignty over the Sapodillas as well, even as Belize and Guatemala….

“This would mean that sovereignty over a very important part of our sovereign domain, the Sapodillas and the Maritime Areas pertaining to it, would remain unresolved.”

The court awaits written observations from Belize and Honduras before a decision on Guatemala’s applications for permission to intervene in the case is made final.