BELIZE CITY, Wed. Dec. 9, 2020– In a press release yesterday evening, Belize’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Immigration informed our citizens at home and abroad that, in keeping with the timeline set by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Guatemala had on the stipulated date, Tuesday, December 8, officially filed a “Memorial” in relation to its “Territorial, Insular and Maritime Claim to Belizean territory” at the International Court of Justice, headquartered at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands).

Guatemala was originally scheduled to lodge its claim on June 8, but on April 8 it wrote the ICJ and asked for a twelve-month extension, citing delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic which surfaced in Belize in March of this year. Belize protested, and recommended a two-month extension only; and the court decided on a six-month postponement for Guatemala; with the date on which Belize was scheduled to submit its response (a year after Guatemala’s submission) also being shifted to a date six months further down the timeline. As a result, Belize’s “Counter-Memorial” is now scheduled for June 8, 2022.

According to the release, although ICJ rules (Article 53 (2)) “do not allow Belize to disclose Guatemala’s pleadings,” it can reveal that their Memorial “consists of one volume of 500 pages, 462 Annexes, 8 Maps and 24 Figures,” and that it “states what Guatemala is claiming in terms of continental land, islands and seas, and the legal grounds for such claims.”

The journey to the ICJ has been a very contentious one in Belize, where, despite major funding from international “Friends” and the support of a YES vote by leaders of both major political parties, only 55% of Belizean voters gave their approval in a referendum on May 8, 2019, while 95% of Guatemalan voters (though only 25% of their electorate turned out for their referendum on April 15, 2018) supported going to the ICJ. For Guatemalan voters, there was obviously something to gain; but for many Belizeans, as confident as we all are in the “iron clad” nature of our case, there was still a reluctance to risk even “one square centimeter” of Belizean land due to “litigation risk.” What bothers those Belizeans is that, having agreed with Guatemala to submit our legal dispute to the ICJ, we can’t turn back now; and according to international law, the final judgements of the ICJ will “have binding force and are without appeal for the parties concerned.” But it is exactly that latter aspect that gives comfort to the more confident Belizeans, as they see this as the only peaceful way to get forever rid of this terrible and disgusting “unfounded” claim.

With these concerns in mind, the Government’s press release had some reassuring and encouraging words:

“…the Ministry is aware that all Belizeans are rightly anxious to know what Guatemala is claiming, since it has made varying claims to different parts of Belize’s territory over the years. While at times it has laid claim to all of Belizean territory, at others it has limited itself to claiming a part, albeit a substantial part….

“While it is constrained in what it can say by the ICJ Rules, the Ministry can reveal that Guatemala’s Memorial presents no surprises, no new claims that are different from those that have been made at different times in the past, which are well documented.

“…The Belize Office of the Agent to the ICJ, in collaboration with the international team of experts, is already at work in preparing Belize’s Counter Memorial which will resolutely reject Guatemala’s Claim and strongly assert Belize’s claim to all its territory, islands and seas in accordance with international law.

“…Belizeans can be secure in the knowledge that our rights and interests are well preserved by our local and international teams of experts and with confidence in the justice dispensed by the ICJ that it has demonstrated in years of adjudicating territorial disputes.”

And who are the worthy individuals into whose hands we now entrust the protection of the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Belize against Guatemala at the ICJ?

The release continues:
“Belize’s Agent at the ICJ is Dr. Assad Shoman and Co-agent is Ambassador Alexis Rosado. Belize’s international team is comprised of Senior Counsel Sam Wordsworth QC, Dr. Ben Juratowith QC and Mathias Forteau; Junior Counsel Amy Sander, Philippa Webb and Kate Parlett; Support Counsel Catherine Drummond and Jamie Trinidad and Hydrographer/Geographer Robin Cleverly.

“Hon. Eamon H. Courtenay SC and Leslie Mendez represent the Government in this process. Hon. Patrick Faber, Leader of the Opposition, has named Michael Peyrefitte and Godwin Hulse as representatives of the Opposition who will remain fully engaged and informed of the process.”

We don’t know much yet about the foreign members of our Belizean defense team, but our Belizean members are formidable.

The work has already begun; it is a sacred and critical work, and we Belizeans can only pray that our team members be blessed with the courage, wisdom and strength to carry through this great task they have been entrusted with.

The whole process is expected to last at least four or five years before the final verdict is given. With the Covid-19 pandemic threatening us from within, and faced with the Guatemalan threat from without at the ICJ, securing the Jewel is now the challenge of our time.