And another issue of urgent public interest is Mayan Communal Land Rights. Last week, when the Caribbean Court of Justice met in Belize, Government
agreed to respect those rights. The Maya Leaders Alliance and the Toledo Alcaldes' Association took this as a victory – but today the Prime Minister
qualified the government's position:…
Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"That consent order does not find or establish that the Maya have indigenous title. As I understand it, indigenous title is a term that carries a
particular meaning in international law and practice. In effect, if the Maya had indigenous title, that would mean they would be entitled to communal
land ownership. The consent order does not establish that. What we considered was that, there claim for property rights, there entitlement - we can see
there is an entitlement to property rights. Is on the basis of human rights, they're human rights in domestic and international law. It is now left for
legislation to provide that Maya persons and villages may apply for the type of title they desire. We'll set up a secretariat to plan and help to
superintend the next steps forward in this large scale national consultation process that will be required before we can ever think about reaching an
end result that will determine once for all - exactly what is the nature of the rights that various Maya individuals, various Maya villages have. We
have not conceded sovereignty, we have not conceded the supremacy of the constitution of this country. I don't want to hear people talking about the
ability to exclude other Belizeans from villages. That certainly would run a fowl of our constitution - and nothing in that consent order provides for
this, permits this - that would be illegal and absolutely impermissible."
Email
Print