Regional Precedents

In parts of the Caribbean and Latin America, there has been judicial recognition of customary rights to land for some distinct groups of people, namely the Mayans in Belize and the Saramaka people in Suriname. This recent development has stimulated the view that Maroon sovereignty rights could soon be recognized by Jamaica’s domestic courts as part of a modern trend. This argument is of doubtful validity. The courts recognizing customary land rights in Belize and Suriname—the Caribbean Court of Justice and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights—have not supported the idea that either the Mayans or Saramakans have sovereignty in their respective areas. Moreover, the courts that have recognized customary land rights do not have binding authority in respect of Jamaican legal matters.