The International Court of Justice (the World Court) is to hear preliminary objections by Venezuela to Guyana’s case seeking a ruling that the 1899 arbitration ruling delineating the boundary between the two countries is valid and binding.
Based in the Hague, the Netherlands, the court will sit from November 17th to the 22nd on the preliminary objections, a release from the ICJ said on October 21st.
The schedule for the hearings is as follows:
First round of oral argument
Thursday 17 November 2022 10 a.m.-1 p.m.: Venezuela
Friday 18 November 2022 3 p.m.-6 p.m.: Guyana
Second round of oral argument
Monday 21 November 2022 10 a.m.-10.45 a.m.: Venezuela
Tuesday 22 November 2022 10 a.m.-10.45 a.m.: Guyana
Guyana on March 8th this year submitted to the ICJ its Memorial on the Merits of its border controversy case against Venezuela – as required by the Court following its decision of 18 December 2020 confirming its jurisdiction to decide the merits of this country’s claims.
A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that the matter is before the Court pursuant to the decision of the Secretary General of the United Nations under the 1966 Geneva Agreement, by which the parties conferred upon the Secretary General the authority to determine the means by which the controversy between Guyana and Venezuela shall be settled.
“Guyana seeks from the Court a decision that the Arbitral Award of 1899 determining the boundary is valid and binding upon Guyana and Venezuela, and that the boundary established by that Award and the 1905 Agreement demarcating it, is the lawful boundary between Guyana and Venezuela. The Court has agreed in its earlier decision that it has jurisdiction to do so. Guyana now looks to the Court’s judicial process and its settlement of the matter under the rule of law”, the statement noted.
Noting that this year marked the 56th anniversary of the 1966 Geneva Agreement, the ministry said that “Guyana considers that the true commemoration of that Agreement is in contributing in good faith to the fulfilment of its true meaning and intent by participating fully in the current juridical process deriving from it. Hence the submission today to the International Court of Justice of Guyana’s Memorial on the Merits as required by the Court”.
