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Guyana welcomes Venezuela’s submission to ICJ in border case
The hearing at ICJ for the Guyana/Venezuela border case
Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana has welcomed submissions by the Government of Venezuela at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in keeping with the Court’s stipulated timeline.
This comes after the Venezuelan Government had previously rejected the jurisdiction of the ICJ in the border case filed by Guyana. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation noted it welcomes the submission made on Monday by Venezuela on the merits of the case concerning the Arbitral Award of 3October 1899 (Guyana versus Venezuela) which is pending before it.
The case, which was filed by Guyana in March 2018, seeks the Court’s decision on the validity of the Arbitral Award which finally determined the land boundary between the two countries. The Court has already ruled that it has jurisdiction over the controversy and will decide the issue on the merits.
Guyana has repeatedly called on Venezuela to participate fully in the judicial proceedings and comply with the Court’s rulings, and therefore welcomes Venezuela’s submissions on the substantive issues that the Court will ultimately decide.
In the statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said the Guyana Government has taken note that CARICOM and the Commonwealth and other members of the international community have also been urging Venezuela to participate in the proceedings before the ICJ. “Guyana considers that it is beneficial to the Court to have before it the submissions of both parties on the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award and the settlement of the international boundary,” the statement added.
“Guyana made its submissions in April 2023. With the submissions of both States before it, the Court will be able to take all arguments and evidence into account and issue a more informed judgement, which will be final and binding on the parties. Guyana has consistently pledged to abide by the Court’s Judgement,” the statement added.
Venezuela has historically claimed Guyana’s Essequibo region as its own despite its initial acceptance of the 1899 Arbitral Award that gives Guyana control of the Essequibo. Essequibo is Guyana’s biggest county, filled with gold, diamonds and significant natural resources. The case finds its genesis in Venezuela’s challenge to the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award of the boundaries that separate the two countries. As a result, the two countries were sent to the world court through the United Nation’s (UN) peacekeeping process to settle the controversy once and for all. At the initial stage of the matter before the ICJ, The Government of Venezuela had indicated a decision to not participate in the procedure that the government of Guyana introduced before the World Court in relation to the “territorial dispute” over Essequibo area. Back then, the Venezuela Foreign Ministry issued a missive noting that, “The Venezuelan delegation has informed the President of the court, through a letter signed by the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro Moros, of its sovereign decision not to participate in the procedure that Guyana intends to initiate, since the Court manifestly lacks jurisdiction over an action unilaterally proposed by the neighbouring country, which does not have the consent of Venezuela.”
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