ICJ sets November 14 to hear Guyana’s complaints over Venezuela’s referendum

Nov 04, 2023 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Kaieteur News – The International Court of Justice on Friday said it will hold public hearings in the Guyana v. Venezuela specifically to deal with a complaint from this country over a scheduled referendum by Venezuela to among other things seek the permission of its citizens to seize the Essequibo.

Guyana wants the court to block several questions to be answered by Venezuelans in the upcoming referendum scheduled for December 3, 2023.

The special hearing is set for Tuesday 14 November 2023 at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court. In a press release the ICJ said it is recalled that on 29 March 2018, Guyana filed an Application instituting proceedings against Venezuela in which it requests the Court “to confirm 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.”

According to the ICJ the hearings will be devoted to the Request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by Guyana on 30 October 2023. In its Request, Guyana states that “[on 23 October 2023, the Government of Venezuela, through its National Electoral Council, published a list of five questions that it plans to put before the Venezuelan people in a . . .‘Consultative Referendum’ on 3 December 2023”. According to the Applicant, the purpose of this referendum is “to obtain responses that would support Venezuela’s decision to abandon [the current proceedings before the Court], and to resort instead to unilateral measures to ‘resolve’ the controversy with Guyana by formally annexing and integrating into Venezuela all of the territory at issue in these proceedings, which comprises more than two-thirds of Guyana” The hearings are scheduled for Tuesday 14 November 2023 10 a.m.-11.30 a.m. Oral argument (Guyana) 3 p.m.-4.30 p.m.: Oral argument (Venezuela).

The International Court of Justice

Late last week the Government of Guyana sought the urgent protection of the International Court of Justice, by filing with the Court a Request for Provisional Measures. In that Request, Guyana sought from the Court an Order preventing Venezuela from taking any action to seize, acquire or encroach upon, or assert or exercise sovereignty over, the Essequibo Region or any other part of Guyana’s national territory, pending the Court’s final determination of the validity of the Arbitral Award that established the land boundary between our two States, and the final and binding nature of that boundary. Guyana has no doubt of the validity of that Arbitral Award and the land boundary, which Venezuela accepted and recognized as the international boundary for more than 60 years.

Because of the urgency of the matter, Guyana had asked the Court to schedule oral hearings on its Request at the earliest possible date in advance of December 3, 2023, the date Venezuela has fixed for its sham referendum. Guyana insists, as does CARICOM, the Secretaries-General of the United Nations and Organization of American States, and the entire international community, that the controversy over the validity of the Arbitral Award and the land boundary must be resolved by the International Court of Justice, which will assure a just, peaceful, binding and permanent solution to this matter, in accordance with international law. In fact, the Court itself has determined, in two separate Orders, that it has the exclusive jurisdiction to resolve this matter, and that it will do so. Twice Venezuela has formally objected to the Court’s jurisdiction, and both times the Court overwhelmingly rejected Venezuela’s objections. In the interim, pending the oral hearing on its request and the issuance of the Court’s Order, Guyana had urged CARICOM and the international community to continue reminding Venezuela of its obligations under international law, including its obligation to accept the ICJ’s jurisdiction, plead its case to the Court, and comply with the Court’s rulings and judgments.

In a statement released on Wednesday Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland expressed deep concern at the 21 September decision of the Venezuelan National Assembly to undertake a referendum on the status of the Essequibo region, part of the sovereign territory of Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, set for 3 December.

Speaking on the escalation the Secretary-General said, “The Commonwealth stands with the Government and people of Guyana and with our partners in CARICOM in expressing our concern over the questions in the planned referendum. “And the Commonwealth continues to stand for the rule of law and, “reaffirms its firm and steadfast support for the maintenance and preservation of the sovereign and territorial integrity of Guyana, and the unobstructed exercise of its rights to develop the entirety of its territory for the benefit of its people”.

According to the Commonwealth, the five questions approved by the National Electoral Council to be included in the referendum undermine Guyana’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and their intent is contrary to international law. “Question 5 proposes the creation of Venezuelan state of Guyana Essequibo and an accelerated plan for giving Venezuelan citizenship and identity cards to the Guyanese population. International law prohibits the seizure and annexation by one country of the territory to another. The language in these questions contributes to heightened tension and is a threat to peace and stability in a member state of our Commonwealth Family and indeed in the wider Caribbean region,” the Commonwealth Secretary General.