Guyana files jurisdiction memorial with ICJ

Border controversy case

The Guyana Government on Monday submitted its memorial on jurisdiction to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as the country moves forward to have the controversy over the 1899 arbitral award settled.
This is as a result of Venezuela’s refusal to participate in the legal proceedings filed by Guyana on the border controversy matter and that country’s claim that the ICJ lacks jurisdiction to preside over proceedings. Guyana is, however, moving full steam ahead in solidifying its case against the Spanish-speaking country’s claim to this country’s sovereign territory.
Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge had said that the ICJ would decide on jurisdiction after February 2019, but, in a statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministry officially announced that Guyana submitted its Memorial on Jurisdiction to the world court which aims to have ICJ validate an arbitral award that settled the international boundary in 1899. This comes five months after Government filed the Memorial in June 2018 to resolve the border controversy after Venezuela refused to participate in the proceedings.
The memorial states that Venezuela is not correct in arguing that the controversy must be resolved exclusively by friendly negotiations, a claim which Guyana says is not justified in the terms of the final 1966 Geneva Agreement to which both parties agreed. It adds that the boundary was set out between Guyana and Venezuela in 1897 before the October 1899 award.
In January 2018, the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres chose adjudication by the Court as the means for finally resolving the controversy, with Guyana filing its case in March of this year. As the Foreign Affairs Minister continues to lead Guyana’s case, the Ministry said that the State has no doubt that the ICJ has jurisdiction to resolve the controversy which has undermined Guyana’s ability to develop its natural resources.
In 2015, after US oil giant ExxonMobil announced the first of many oil finds, Venezuela renewed its claim to two-thirds of Guyana’s territory.
Venezuela has been against oil exploration in Guyana’s Stabroek Block, where multiple oil deposits were found by ExxonMobil, and has since renewed claims to the Essequibo region.
Venezuela also claims the entire Essequibo region, but according to Guyana’s application to the World Court, for more than 60 years Venezuela had consistently recognised and respected the validity of the binding force of the 1899 Award and the 1905 map agreed by both sides in furtherance of the award. On March 29, 2018, Guyana filed an application requesting the world court to confirm the legal validity and binding effect of the 1899 Arbitral Award regarding its boundary with Venezuela.
The neighbouring country contends that the Arbitral Award of 1899 about the frontier between British Guiana and Venezuela was null and void but court documents noted that while Venezuela has never produced any evidence to justify its belated repudiation of the Award, the neighbouring country has used it as an excuse to occupy territory awarded to Guyana in 1899, to inhibit Guyana’s economic development, and to violate Guyana’s sovereignty and sovereign rights.
On January 30, 2018, Secretary General Guterres concluded that the Good Offices Process – which the parties had engaged in for almost 30 years, but it failed to achieve a solution to the controversy – and chose the ICJ as the next means of settlement, for which Guyana has long been advocating. Sir Shridath Ramphal and Ambassador Audrey Waddell are assisting Minister Greenidge.
On Friday last, the United States announced that it supports Guyana’s case.