The International Court of Justice (ICJ) today said that it will hold public hearings on November 14 on Guyana’s request for provisional measures related to a referendum planned by Venezuela on December 3rd on Essequibo which is the substance of a case currently being heard by the Holland-based tribunal.
On October 30, Guyana requested the Court to indicate the following provisional measures:
“1. Venezuela shall not proceed with the Consultative Referendum planned for 3 December 2023 in its present form;
2. In particular, Venezuela shall not include the First, Third or Fifth questions in the Consultative Referendum;
3. Nor shall Venezuela include within the ‘Consultative Referendum’ planned, or any other public referendum, any question encroaching upon the legal issues to be determined by the Court in its Judgment on the Merits, including (but not limited to):
a. the legal validity and binding effect of the 1899 Award;
b. sovereignty over the territory between the Essequibo River, and the boundary established by the 1899 Award and the 1905 Agreement; and
c. the purported creation of the State of ‘Guayana Esequiba’ and any associated measures, including the granting of Venezuelan citizenship and national identity cards.
The ICJ release today said that hearings on November 14 will be devoted to the Request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by Guyana on 30 October 2023.
The ICJ stated “In its Request, Guyana states that `[o]n 23 October 2023, the Government of Venezuela, through its National Electoral Council, published a list of five questions that it plans to put before the Venezuelan people in a . . . ‘Consultative Referendum’ on 3 December 2023’. According to the Applicant, the purpose of this referendum is `to obtain responses that would support Venezuela’s decision to abandon [the current proceedings before the Court], and to resort instead to unilateral measures to ‘resolve’ the controversy with Guyana by formally annexing and integrating into Venezuela all of the territory at issue in these proceedings, which comprises more than two-thirds of Guyana’”
Schedule for the hearings
Tuesday 14 November 2023 10 a.m.-11.30 a.m.: Oral argument (Guyana)
3 p.m.-4.30 p.m.: Oral argument (Venezuela)