BELIZE-Belize remains optimistic following the ICJ ruling.

BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – The Belize government says the ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding Guatemala’s application to intervene in the sovereignty regarding the ownership of the Sapodilla Cayes does not in any way “affect the legal rights or claims of any of the parties.

“It allows only for each party’s claims and counterclaims to be aired as part of the hearings. The Court’s judgment that Guatemala has a legal interest to participate in the case does not affect any of the substantive issues that the Court is yet to rule on,” the Belize government said in a statement.

In its ruling in the ongoing matter between Belize and Honduras over the ownership of the Sapodilla Cayes, the ICJ held that Guatemala has a legal interest in the case and, pursuant to Article 62 of the Statute of the Court, is permitted to intervene as a non-party. Guatemala’s intervention is limited to the issue of sovereignty over the Sapodilla Cayes, including fishing rights in the waters surrounding them.

Guatemala filed its application for permission to intervene in the Belize/Honduras case on December 1, 2023, and while Belize did not object, Honduras did.

The Belize government said that the ICJ’s decision is a step forward that advances the process leading to “finality of the two sovereignty cases before the ICJ involving Belize, i.e., Guatemala’s Territorial, Insular and Maritime Claim (Guatemala/Belize) and Sovereignty over the Sapodilla Cayes/Cayos Zapotillos (Belize v. Honduras).”

It said that, following the judgment, the ICJ has fixed May 19 this year as the deadline for Guatemala’s written statement as a non-party and July 20, 2026, as the deadline for Belize and Honduras to file their respective written observations on Guatemala’s statement.

In November 2023, Belize instituted proceedings against Honduras over sovereignty over the Sapodilla Cayes, a group of cayes lying in the Gulf of Honduras at the southern tip of the Belize Barrier Reef.

In its application instituting proceedings, Belize states that, since the early 19th century, the Sapodilla Cayes have formed part of Belize’s territory, initially as part of the settlement of Belize and later as part of the colony of British Honduras, and since 1981 as part of the independent State of Belize.

“Under international law, Belize is sovereign over the Sapodilla Cayes,” and that “the Honduran claim to the Sapodilla Cayes, articulated in its 1982 Constitution, which remains in force as a matter of the internal law of Honduras, has no basis in international law,” Belize said in its application.