World Court to decide on jurisdiction after February 2019 – Greenidge

Guyana-Venezuela border controversy

– Ministry launches PSAs to increase awareness

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will early next year make a determination on whether or not it is its jurisdiction to hear the matter relating to the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy.
This was related by Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge who disclosed on Thursday that the delay was based by an objection by the Bolivarian Republic which said it “does not recognise” the ICJ’s jurisdiction.
“It will be sometime after February next year that the court will decide on jurisdiction,” the Foreign Affairs Minister posited.
Greenidge said after such time, the court will proceed with the substantive case which could be heard in two years’ time.
In the meantime, the Foreign Affairs Ministry collaborated with the Education Ministry and launched two Public Service Announcements (PSAs) on the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy. This seeks to inform and update the public on the ongoing matter which is currently gaining the attention of the ICJ in Hague, The Netherlands. The PSAs are available on Facebook and YouTube and will soon be broadcast on television in the near future.
Venezuela 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. This application followed a decision by the UN Secretary General earlier this year in choosing the ICJ as the next means of resolving the controversy that arose as a result of the Venezuelan contention that the Arbitral Award of 1899 about the frontier between British Guiana and Venezuela was null and void.
The court documents noted that while Venezuela has never produced any evidence to justify its belated repudiation of the 1899 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.
In filing the application, Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, who will serve as Guyana’s agent in the proceedings before the ICJ, said: “… Guyana has respected the Secretary General’s decision and placed its faith in the International Court of Justice to resolve the controversy in accordance with its statue and jurisprudence, based on the fundamental principles of international law, including the sanctity of treaties, the maintenance of settled boundaries and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States.”
On January 30, 2018, Secretary General Antonio Guterres, concluded that the Good Offices Process – which the parties had engaged in for almost 30 years, but 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. United States oil giant ExxonMobil had announced back in May 2015 that it had found oil offshore Guyana. Venezuela has staunchly 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. (Shemuel Fanfair)