About 4 months ago, we took you back to the Caribbean Court of Justice for the regular reports that the Maya and the Government of Belize were required to make. They were supposed to be reporting on the progress they've made in the implementation of the CCJ judgement to make Maya Customary Land Tenure a real thing, and not just a order of the court.
You'll remember that the spokespersons for the Maya basically went before the Court and said that the Government was dragging its foot to implement Maya Land Tenure. As one attorney explained it to us, it is as if the Government proposed to the Maya, got married, and is now refusing to honor the commitments it made to them.
The Government disagreed, and made the point that these things take time, and that they can't rush without considering all the possible unintended consequences of the change that would be required.
Well, the two sides went back before the Court, and the Government was supposed to have filed a draft working plan to implement the judgement. The Government also committed to hold 2 meetings with representatives of the Maya Communities so that they could offer suggestions to improve that work plan.
But, when the two sides showed up for the teleconference hearings today, the court was informed that the Government only held one of those meetings, and they did not file this work plan. Basically, they had broken their own commitments to the court, and it appears that the judges will not accept any more excuses.
Today, nearing the end of the 41-minute hearing, Justice Jacob Wit informed the attorneys for both sides that he will be meeting with them personally to resolve one of the big issues that's been causing the implementation to lag behind. He told them that he wants to help them come up with an alternative dispute resolution after Maya Customary Land Tenure is implemented.
Here's that part of the hearing via teleconference where the judge, in his explanation of his intentions, said that nearly 3 years without any real progress cannot continue:
CCJ Judge
"A dispute resolution framework needs to be established. We ask you to do so. We got a dispute resolution proposal from the government's side and a letter from Mrs. Coc-Magusson reacting on that. The idea is that we will sit together, you and I and I propose that that will happen this week. if possible on the 22nd Thursday same time as now. So 11 o' clock our time, 9 o'clock your time. I will give you some thoughts how I want to get this done, because after 3 years the party have not succeeded in getting anything done in this regard and this cannot continue. So I will give you my ideas so that you can start thinking about that."
"Dispute resolution framework that is proposed is much too complicated. I think there needs to be an authoritative person and I think that could be a retired judge from Belize, somebody of that stature. That is in short, succinct way the direction I would like to discuss with you, and I insist that we get to some sort of results as we cannot continue in the way that we have continued up to now. Of course you do not have to agree with me, but it would be advisable that in some way you do."
Justice Wit will meet with both sides on Thursday in a private session. The judges have imposed a deadline of March 9th to file that draft working plan, and on March 15, they will go back before the court for another report.
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