Border controversy case to drag out for another two years

Mar 15, 2021 News

Kaieteur News-The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has given Guyana until March 8, 2022 for further submissions to be made in relation to litigation brought against neighbouring Venezuela, while that country has been given March 8, 2023 for its counter proposals.
The decision was handed down on March 8, last by ICJ President Joan E. Donoghue.
The matter which was first filed by the Guyana Government in March 2018, and calls on the court to look into, “the legal validity and binding effect of the Award regarding the Boundary between the Colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela, of 3 October 1899.”

ICJ President, Joan E. Donoghue

In handing down the latest decision, the ICJ president observed that representatives of the litigating parties, specifically the Venezuelan representative, had presented to the court in the past, its belief that court manifestly lacked jurisdiction to hear the case and that Venezuela had decided not to participate in the proceedings.
That directive had also been communicated to the President of the Court in a letter dated June 18, 2018, from the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.
The court subsequently upheld its jurisdiction to hear the case even as Venezuela refused to participate in the proceedings.
This was observed in the recent ICJ decision, where Donoghue noted that Venezuela has expressed its disagreement with the Judgment rendered by the Court.
That country had argued that the “Agreement to Resolve the Controversy between Venezuela and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland over the Frontier between Venezuela and British Guiana” signed at Geneva on February 17, 1966 could not afford a basis for the Court’s jurisdiction.
The argument was premised on the perception that the agreement provided that the controversy had to be amicably resolved in a manner acceptable to both parties.
Venezuela further indicated—according to the ICJ—that it has not yet decided on its position in relation to the proceedings and that, in light of the alleged serious implications of the Court’s Judgment of December 18, 2020 for its sovereignty and that it was required by its Constitution to conduct popular consultations on the matter.
This, the country indicated, would require a significant amount of time, and that it also faced a number of other difficulties in preparing its pleading and as such requested a period of 12 to 18 months for the preparation of its Counter-Memorial.
In reply to the views expressed by Venezuela, Guyana indicated that a period of 12 months for the filing of each party’s written pleading would also be acceptable and the court has since given each country twelve months each to make their submissions and subsequent counter submissions.

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