Did G.O.B. letters to U.N. imply legal commitment to Maya?

The case of the Toledo Maya claim against the Government of Belize for communal land rights continued this afternoon in the Supreme Court. At the start of the sitting, attorney for villagers from Conejo and Santa Clara referred to correspondence between Belmopan and the United Nations about land use by the Maya in the Toledo District. And while the Chief Justice has previously indicated that he has been awash with documents, today he suggested to Government counsel Nicola Cho, that a letter written by government advisor Gian Ghandi last July could prove the claimant’s case. At that time, Ghandi was asked by Prime Minister Said Musa to prepare an official response to a letter from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people. The U.N. representative had expressed deep concern over oil concessions and land distribution in Toledo and went on to note, “Since the property among Maya people use to be collective and non-transferable, the individualization of lands could threaten their way of life.” In response, Gandhi emphasized “that the Government of Belize fully subscribes to the resolutions adopted by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people” and went on to declare “the Government of Belize is fully committed to the development of the Maya communities without endangering their culture and way of life.” And even though Ghandi eventually refuted the U.N.’s statements that “individualization of lands could threaten their way of life” and maintained that there “is no process in place of `privatisation and parcelling of indigenous lands’, the C.J. took issue with his pledge of full commitment and subscription to the U.N. resolutions. The Chief Justice stated that “nowhere does the Government address the substrata of the claim, there are only half hearted admissions to help … it does not detract from the right to communal land.” To this, Cho remained adamant in her position that Ghandi’s letter was a diplomatic response to the international arena and should not be interpreted as proof of the claimant’s case. She assured the court that she would properly address the issue when the Government presents its side of the case. The C.J. left it at that and went on to listen to the eighth witness called by the claimants, anthropologist and university professor Dr. Richard Wilk, who has done extensive research in Toledo and has filed three affidavits in this matter. Wilk maintained that the Mayan communities must have a say in the way the land around their villages is developed because “only people who live there, who can figure out which family needs what, can decide where to farm and when.” Wilk emphasised that as such, proper management requires flexibility. “This is a very carefully managed system that has worked for a long time,” he said. The claimants’ attorney Antoinette Moore plans to call one more expert witness tomorrow morning and since the Government will present its case using witness affidavits, final submissions by both attorneys could come as early as Thursday. The villages of Conejo and Santa Clara are seeking to have Belmopan formally recognise communal rights to land surrounding their communities and related resources based on “longstanding use and occupancy.”