After traveling almost 2,000 miles to attend a hearing with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington D.C. to speak out on the human rights violations against Maya peoples in Southern Belize, on March 13th, spokeswoman of the Maya Leaders Alliance Cristina Coc was informed that the hearing had been cancelled at the last minute; representatives of the government of Belize had failed to show.
“It’s so hard to raise resources to travel this far, and they just cancel,” Cristina lamented. “It’s typical of [the state of Belize’s] disregard for Maya people.”
The Belize government has failed to properly consult Maya peoples of their plans for oil development in Southern Belize, including within the Sartsoon-Temash National Park, an area of primary forest that is the home to many engendered species.
The government routinely ignores recommendations made by the Inter-American Commission and their obligations under the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The State of Belize is even in contempt of domestic laws. The Supreme Court of Belize has prohibited the state from interfering with Maya lands and explicitly ordered the halt of all oil and logging permits until a process of fully informed consent has been carried out.
Cultural Survival and the Maya Leaders Alliance jointly submitted a recommendation for the country’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review, a process by which the United Nations takes governments to task for failure to comply with human rights norms, which will occur in October 2013.
Also this week, Pablo Mis of the Maya Leaders Alliance, will be attending the 107th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. Shadow Reports were submitted by the Maya Leaders Alliance and other civil society bodies, and as well by Sarstoon-Temash Institute of Indigenous Management, which co-manages the National Park, along with Minority Rights Group International to expose the continuing human rights violations by US Capital Energy and the State of Belize.
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