‘Venezuela must be stopped’

Nov 15, 2023 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

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…Guyana now faces existential threat with planned referendum – Greenidge tells ICJ

Kaieteur News – Guyana’s Agent in the border case, Carl Greenidge told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that it now “stands as the guardian” against the existential threats the country faces at the hands of neighbouring Venezuela amidst the ongoing legal battle between the countries for a final declaration in the border controversy case.

Greenidge appeared before the World Court in Hague Netherlands on Tuesday at the commencement of the hearing into Guyana’s request for provisional reliefs to safeguard Guyana’s territorial integrity pending the outcome of the substantive case regarding the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award in the border controversy case.

Venezuela is scheduled to hold a national referendum on December 3, 2023, as part of its efforts to garner support to annex and incorporate into its own territory Guyana’s entire Essequibo region.

In its application, Guyana noted that the purpose of the 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 which comprises more than two-thirds of Guyana.

In his opening address, Greenidge told the ICJ that it can provide an amicable solution to the border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela, and stop the impending chaos in the Region. He noted too that  international law strictly prohibits the government of one state from unilaterally seizing, annexing or incorporating the territory of another state.

Greenidge said, “Only the court can protect Guyana and its rights at issue in this case, from the irreparable harm that would certainly befall it if Venezuela is permitted to cross that threshold into the seizure and incorporation of the territory, whose ultimate fate is to be determined by the court, not by the unilateral action of either of the parties.”

He added that: “only the court can prevent the imminent annexation of tens of thousands of square kilometers of Guyanese territory. In these circumstances, Guyana looks to the court to safeguard these rights by applying the principles of international law faithfully, fairly and impartially.” Guyana’s Agent also underscored the urgency of the request for provisional measures to the court.

“The national referendum Venezuela scheduled for December 3, 2023 is designed to obtain an overwhelming popular mandate for the Government of Venezuela to reject the jurisdiction of the court, to preempt the ruling of the court and in so doing undermine the authority and effectiveness of the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.”

He reminded the ICJ that it has already twice affirmed its jurisdiction to mediate the boundary controversy between Guyana and Venezuela and that “Guyana has not wavered in its trust in the Court.” According to Greenidge, “The court alone stands between such a solution and chaos…Chaos that would threaten peace and security for Guyana and for the Caribbean Region and beyond.”

Greenidge told the ICJ that should Venezuela be allowed to continue, there could be irreparable injury but also permanent loss. To this end, Greenidge told the Court that “Once Venezuela creates a new state, incorporating (the Essequibo) and grants Venezuelan citizenship to the population, how this seizure of Guyana’s territory will be reversed, if, in its judgment on the merits, the court rules that the 1899 Award is valid and that Guyana is the lawful sovereign. How will Venezuela’s actions be reversed, and Guyana’s rights to the territory be restored, if Venezuela rejects the court’s jurisdiction and refuses to recognise the validity of its judgment on the merits,” Guyana’s Agent submitted to the Court.

He explained to the Court, that there is still time to protect the authority of the Court and to prevent Venezuela from executing the Referendum in its current form. The Court was also told that Venezuela has been mobilising its military resources near the border it shares with Guyana ahead of the referendum. “As I stand before the court, there is still time to protect the authority of the court and to stop Venezuela from carrying out its intended referendum before it secures the purported mandate to reject the court as the means of settlement of the controversy over which the court has already determined that it has jurisdiction; before it secures a purported mandate to turn Essequibo Region into the new Venezuelan State of Guayana Esequiba,” Greenidge submitted.

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• 1899 Arbitral Award, Carl Greenidge, Essequibo, Guyana’s Agent in the border case, International Court of Justice (ICJ)

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