Guyana, on March 29, 2018, filed an application with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Venezuela – requesting, among many things, that Venezuela refrain from threatening or using force against any person and/or company licensed by Guyana or engage in economic or commercial activity in Guyanese territory.
“Venezuela shall refrain from threatening or using force against any person and/or company licensed by Guyana or engage in economic or commercial activity in Guyanese territory as determined by the
1899 Award and 1905 Agreement, or in any maritime areas appurtenant to such territory over which Guyana has sovereignty or exercises sovereign rights, and shall not interfere with any Guyanese or Guyanese authorised activities in those
The International Court of Justice
areas,” a release by the principal judicial organ of the United Nations said.
Moreover, in its application, Guyana requested 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.”
“The applicant claims that the 1899 Award was “a full, perfect, and final settlement” of all questions relating to determining the boundary line between the colony of British Guiana and Venezuela.
Guyana affirms that, between November 1900 and June 1904, a joint Anglo-Venezuelan Boundary Commission “identified, demarcated and permanently fixed the boundary established by the Award” before the signing of a Joint Declaration by the Commissioners on 10 January 1905 (referred to by Guyana as the “1905 Agreement”).”
Guyana contends that in 1962, for the first time, Venezuela contested the Award as “arbitrary” and “null and void” and according to them, this led to the signing of 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 at Geneva on 17 February 1966, which “provided for recourse to a series of dispute settlement mechanisms to finally resolve the controversy”.
The applicant [Guyana] further submits that the Geneva Agreement authorised the United Nations
Secretary General to decide which appropriate dispute resolution mechanism to adopt for the peaceful settlement of the controversy, in accordance with Article 33 of the United Nations Charter.
As such, the applicant requests that the Court adjudge and declare that “the 1899 Award is valid and binding upon Guyana and Venezuela, and the boundary established by that Award and the 1905
Agreement is valid and binding upon Guyana and Venezuela”; “Guyana enjoys full sovereignty over the territory between the Essequibo River and the boundary established by the 1899 Award and the 1905 Agreement, and Venezuela enjoys full sovereignty over the territory west of that boundary; Guyana and Venezuela are under an obligation to fully respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in accordance with the boundary established by the 1899 Award and the 1905 Agreement”; “Venezuela shall immediately withdraw from and cease its occupation of the eastern half of the Island of Ankoko, and each and every other territory which is recognised as Guyana’s sovereign territory in accordance with the 1899 Award and 1905 Agreement,” and “Venezuela is internationally responsible for violations of Guyana’s sovereignty and sovereign rights, and for all injuries suffered by Guyana as a consequence.”
