Editing Belize (section)

===Indigenous land claims===

Belize backed the [[Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples|United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples]] in 2007, which established legal land rights to indigenous groups.<ref name="Cultural Survival">{{Cite news|url=https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/full-participation-belizes-indigenous-people-crucial-achieving-sustainable-development-goals|title=The Full Participation of Belize's Indigenous People is Crucial to Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals|website=Cultural Survival|date=18 July 2017|access-date=23 October 2018|language=en|archive-date=31 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531225314/https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/full-participation-belizes-indigenous-people-crucial-achieving-sustainable-development-goals|url-status=live}}</ref> Other court cases have affirmed these rights like the [[Supreme Court of Belize]]'s 2013 decision to uphold its ruling in 2010 that acknowledges customary land titles as communal land for indigenous peoples.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://rightsandresources.org/en/blog/historic-legal-victory-for-indigenous-peoples-in-belize/|title=Historic Legal Victory for Indigenous Peoples in Belize {{!}} Rights + Resources|work=Rights + Resources|access-date=23 October 2018|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023195834/https://rightsandresources.org/en/blog/historic-legal-victory-for-indigenous-peoples-in-belize/|archive-date=23 October 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Another such case is the [[Caribbean Court of Justice]]'s (CCJ) 2015 order on the Belizean government, which stipulated that the country develop a land registry to classify and exercise traditional governance over Mayan lands. Despite these rulings, Belize has made little progress to support the land rights of indigenous communities; for instance, in the two years after the CCJ's decision, Belize's government failed to launch the Mayan land registry, prompting the group to take action into its own hands.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.breakingbelizenews.com/2017/08/09/satiim-launches-maya-lands-registry-celebrate-indigenous-peoples-day/|title=SATIIM launches Maya lands registry to celebrate UN Indigenous Peoples day|date=9 August 2017|work=Breaking Belize News-The Leading Online News Source of Belize|access-date=24 October 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=23 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023201717/https://www.breakingbelizenews.com/2017/08/09/satiim-launches-maya-lands-registry-celebrate-indigenous-peoples-day/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://rightsandresources.org/en/blog/historic-legal-victory-for-indigenous-peoples-in-belize/|title=Historic Legal Victory for Indigenous Peoples in Belize {{!}} Rights + Resources|work=Rights + Resources|access-date=24 October 2018|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023195834/https://rightsandresources.org/en/blog/historic-legal-victory-for-indigenous-peoples-in-belize/|archive-date=23 October 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The exact ramifications of these cases need to be examined. {{as of|2017}}, Belize still struggles to recognize indigenous populations and their respective rights. According to the 50-page voluntary national report Belize created on its progress toward the [[Sustainable Development Goals|UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals]], indigenous groups are not factored into the country's indicators whatsoever.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/16389Belize.pdf |title=Belize's Voluntary National Review For the Sustainable Development Goals 2017 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=9 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725030247/https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/16389Belize.pdf |archive-date=25 July 2018 }}</ref> Belize's Maya population is only mentioned once in the entirety of the report.<ref name="Cultural Survival" />