^* John R. Crook is an arbitrator on the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission and under NAFTA, and teaches international arbitration at George Washington University Law School. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board and edits the American Journal of International Law’s section on contemporary U.S. practice in international law.

^* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text available at the Government of Belize website: (visited March 10, 2009) <http://www.governmentofbelize.gov.bz/download/SIGNING%20OF%20AGREEMENT.pdf>

¹ See Press Release, Organization of American States, Guatemala and Belize Sign Historic Agreement on Territorial Differendum (Dec. 8, 2008), at http://www.oas.org/OASpage/press_releases/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-463/08. For background on territorial disputes in Latin and Central America, and on the role of the OAS in addressing them, see JORGE I. DOMÍNGUEZ ET AL., U.S. INST. OF PEACE PEACEWORKS NO. 50, BOUNDARY DISPUTES IN LATIN AMERICA (2003), at http://www.usip.org/pubs/peaceworks/pwks50.pdf.

² Adele, Ramos, Pitts-Robateau Irate at Elrington’s Compromis!, AMANDALA NEWS ONLINE , Dec. 12, 2008, at http://www.amandala.com.bz/index.php?id=7874.Google Scholar

³ See Montserrat, Gorina-Ysern, OAS Mediates in Belize-Guatemala Border Dispute, ASIL INSIGHT , Dec. 2000, at www.asil.org/insigh59.cfm; Timeline: Belize, BBC NEWS, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1210772.stm.Google Scholar

⁴ Convention between Great Britain and Guatemala, Apr. 30, 1859, art. I.120, The Consolidated Treaty Series (Clive Parry ed., 1969).

⁵ See Gorina-Ysern, supra note 3.

⁶ Agreement to Establish a Transition Process and Confidence Building Measures between Belize and Guatemala, Feb. 7, 2003, at http://www.oas.org/oaspage/eng/documents/belizeguatemala_eng.pdf.

⁷ The Court is to determine ‘‘any and all legal claims of Guatemala against Belize to land and insular territories and to any maritime areas pertaining to these territories.’’ as well as ‘‘the boundaries between their respective territories and areas.’’ Under Article 40(1) of the ICJ Statute, a special agreement is to indicate the ‘‘subject of the dispute,’’ a requirement which Article 2 seems to satisfy. Under Article 39(2) of the ICJ’s Rules of Court, the parties to a dispute can further clarify the precise subject of their dispute in their notification to the Court ‘‘in so far as this is not already apparent from the agreement.’’

⁸ Ramos, supra note 2.

⁹ Id.

¹⁰ Statement, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Belize and Guatemalan Border Dispute Agreement (Dec. 8, 2008), available at http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/latest-news/?view=PressR&id=10540920.