Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge yesterday announced that the government has enacted regulations to close the lines across the mouths of the three largest navigable rivers of Guyana, the Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice rivers.
Greenidge told the National Assembly that the government enacted the Maritime Zones (Internal Waters and River Closing Baselines) Regulations on July 23rd, in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Maritime Zones Act 2010 of Guyana. The regulations have been published in the Official Gazette.
He said that the baselines constitute a fundamental aspect of the regime of zones of jurisdiction established by the UNCLOS, since the breadth of the maritime zones under national jurisdiction is to be measured from the baselines. The baseline, he said, is also the line which establishes the outer limit of the international waters in which the state exercises its full sovereignty.
“It therefore means that the proper implementation of the baseline provisions of the Convention by coastal States through, inter alia, their national legislation, will play an important role in the achievement of an adequate balance between the maritime interests of coastal states and those of the international community,” the minister said.
He stressed that as a State Party to UNCLOS, Guyana has an obligation under international law, by virtue of Articles 9 and 16 of that Convention, to properly delimit its internal waters.
The regulation has been made as Guyana and Venezuela are embroiled in a controversy following Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro issuing a decree claiming a large part of the Stabroek Block, where US firm ExxonMobil discovered oil recently. President David Granger has strongly objected to the recent claim and has taken its objection to many international forums and bodies, including Caricom, denouncing the decree and calling for support. While Venezuela is suggesting that the United Nations Good Officer process be employed as has been done in the past, Guyana is calling for a judicial settlement of the controversy.
