Home  Peace Fund Belize and Guatemala |
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| Belize and Guatemala | |||
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| Background | |||
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| The governments of Belize and Guatemala restarted talks on their longstanding territorial differendum in March, 2000 under the auspices of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS). Jointly, Belize and Guatemala appointed a Panel of Facilitators to help guide the negotiating process. As a result of this process, in February 2003, the Foreign Ministers of Belize and Guatemala signed an “Agreement to Establish a Transition Process and Confidence-Building Measures” between the two countries, which was later amended in September 2005 in the “Agreement on a Framework for Negotiations and Confidence-Building Measures between Belize and Guatemala”. Under this Agreement an Adjacency Zone between the two countries was established and the OAS opened an Office in the area to implement confidence-building measures. Since then, the OAS Office in the Adjacency Zone has carried out a series of activities that have substantially eased tensions; it has fostered community development; it has prevented the escalation of conflicts through verification missions and reporting of incidents; it has supported the armed forces; and it has successfully executed community resettlement projects, such as Santa Rosa Comunity and the Nueva Juda Resttlement Projects. In 2003, the Secretary General of the OAS, at the request of the governments of Belize and Guatemala, established a broadly representative Group of Friends of the Belize-Guatemala Transition Process (the “Group of Friends”), consisting of OAS Member and Observer States, and others interested in supporting a peaceful resolution to the territorial differendum. The Group of Friends acts as an advisory body to the Secretary General and provides political and operational support for undertaking the various activities contemplated under the “Agreement to Establish a Transition Process and Confidence Building Measures between Belize and Guatemala”. Some members of the Group of Friends provide financial assistance for the activities undertaken under the Transition Process and Confidence Building Measures, by means of contributions to the Belize-Guatemala sub-fund of the Fund for Peace. |
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| Current Status |
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| On December 8, 2008, the Governments of Belize and Guatemala, acting on the recommendation of OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, signed the “Special Agreement to Submit Guatemala’s Territorial, Insular, and Maritime Claim to the International Court of Justice”. Currently, both countries are making the necessary arrangements provided for in their respective domestic systems to submit to a referendum the decision to ask the International Court of Justice to settle the territorial differendum. The plebiscites will take place simultaneously in both countries on a previously agreed upon date. Thanks to the support of the OAS through the Peace Fund, Belize and Guatemala are closer than ever to finding a permanent solution to their centuries-old conflict. |
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| Agreements | |||||
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| Reports | |
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Report on the closing of the program Promoting a Culture of Peace. October 16, 2009
2.8MB download Second Report of the program Promoting a Culture of Peace. August, 2009 791K download First Report of the program Promoting a Culture of Peace. May 12, 2009 382K download Activity Report of the Office of the OAS General Secretariat in the Belize-Guatemala Adjacency Zone 38K download Report on the Project for Resettlement of the Santa Rosa Community 2175K download Graphic Report on the Resettlement Project – The New Santa Rosa Community, Poptun. April 21, 2008 2959K download |
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| Latest News | |||||
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List of Particiapants – “JORNADA CULTURAL” October 16, 2009 Cultural Event Agenda BELIZE-GUATEMALA September 16, 2009 Rural Tourism as an Income Generator The Peace Fund in coordination with the YABT and the government of Israel provide scholarships, one for a Belizean citizen and one for a Guatemalan citizen, to be trained in rural tourism at the Golda Meir International Center – Mount Carmel of Israel. “The Small Business of Rural Tourism as an Income Generator Course” was held from July 26th to August 12th, 2009 in Haifa, Israel. |
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