The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has granted Guyana one year, until 8 March, 2022, to file written pleadings in its case against Venezuela.
An Order issued by the Court on March 8 explains that following the 18 December, 2020 judgment in which the Court found that it has jurisdiction to entertain the application filed by Guyana, time-limits now have to be fixed for the written proceedings on the merits.
Consequently a meeting was held by video link on February 26 during which Guyana requested a period of nine months, from the date of the Order fixing the time-limits, for the preparation of its Memorial.
In response, Venezuela expressed its disagreement with the December judgment but indicated that it has not yet decided on its position in relation to the proceedings.
The Bolivarian Republic is said to have told the Court that “in light of the alleged serious implications of the Court’s Judgment of 18 December 2020 for its sovereignty, it was required by its Constitution to conduct popular consultations on the matter, which would require a significant amount of time, and that it also faced a number of other difficulties in preparing its pleading.”
That country, therefore, requested a period of 12 to 18 months for the preparation of its Counter-Memorial.
Guyana, in turn, indicated that a period of 12 months for the filing of each party’s written pleading would be acceptable.
The Court has fixed 8 March, 2022 for the submission of Guyana’s Memorial and 8 March, 2023 for the submission of the Counter-Memorial of Venezuela.
The ICJ has reserved the subsequent procedure for further decision.
In March 2018, Guyana filed its application with the ICJ to confirm the validity and binding effect of the Arbitral Award of 1899 on boundary between the two countries and the subsequent 1905 agreement, following the decision by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to choose the ICJ as the next means of resolving the controversy which stems from Venezuela’s contention that the award was null and void.
Last December, the Court concluded that not only could it determine the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award on the frontier between Guyana and Venezuela but that it could address the related question of the definitive settlement of the land boundary controversy between the two territories.
The decision, which was delivered by the President of the ICJ, Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, is based on the text, the object and purpose of the February 17th 1966 Geneva Agreement, which aimed to address the controversy over the award, as well as the circumstances surrounding the agreement’s conclusion.
Specifically, the Court, by a majority of 12 votes to four, found that “by conferring on the Secretary-General [via the Geneva Agreement] the authority to choose the appropriate means of settlement of their controversy, including the possibility of recourse to judicial settlement by the International Court of Justice, Guyana and Venezuela consented to its jurisdiction.”
