GUYANA is ready to defend its position at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the world court has jurisdiction to adjudicate on the validity of the Arbitral Award of 1899 that established the boundary it shares with Venezuela. However, at this stage, it is unclear whether the Spanish-speaking country, confronted with a socioeconomic and political crisis, would present oral arguments in support of its position when the hearing commences next month.

In the decades-old controversy, Venezuela has argued that the Arbitral Award of October 3, 1899 is null and void – a contention strongly rejected by Guyana. From Monday, March 23, 2020 to Friday, March 27, 2020, the ICJ will hear arguments in the case at the Peace Palace in The Hague – the seat of the court. In a statement on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Guyana will submit its oral pleadings, defending its position that the court was properly vested with jurisdiction by the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres.

In its Memorial on Jurisdiction, which it submitted to the Court on November 19, 2018, Guyana maintained that the boundary was established by the Arbitral Tribunal acting pursuant to a treaty concluded by Venezuela and Great Britain in 1897.

“Venezuela celebrated the unanimous Arbitral Award, which was rendered by five eminent jurists; participated in a Joint Commission to demarcate the boundary on the ground; and insisted on the award’s strict implementation. Only decades later did Venezuela, in anticipation of Guyana’s independence, cease recognising the award’s validity and binding nature,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry explained.

Nonetheless, to ensure a final resolution to the controversy through peaceful means, the Governments of British Guiana, Venezuela and the United Kingdom concluded the Geneva Agreement, Article IV, which authorises the Secretary-General of the United Nations to decide which of the means listed in Article 33 of the United Nations Charter should be utilised. Article 33 states, among other things, that the International Court of Justice has jurisdiction to adjudicate on the matter with the intention of resolving the controversy.

“In agreeing to Article IV, Venezuela consented to the court’s jurisdiction in the event that the Secretary-General decided that the controversy should be resolved by the court,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said. It said that it was in keeping with Article IV that the UN Secretary-General, Guterres, on January 30, 2018, chose adjudication by the court as the means for resolving the controversy with finality.

Guyana commenced proceedings before the court on March 29, 2018 in accordance with the Secretary-General’s decision. “Guyana has no doubt that the court has jurisdiction,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry made known.

Venezuela, on the other hand, is of the opinion that the ICJ has no jurisdiction, and has such it has long indicated that it will not participate in the proceedings. However, in November 2019, it sent the IC a Memorandum and issued a public Communique in support of its argument that the court has no jurisdiction. “Guyana rejects them both and maintains the position that it is for the court itself to determine whether it has jurisdiction and that neither party can unilaterally determine this question,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

Foreign Secretary, Carl Greenidge, in presenting on the controversy at the University of Guyana late last year, made it clear that Venezuela’s absence will not affect the case. “Whether or not Venezuela participates, I wouldn’t put it as being immaterial, but it does not frustrate the work of the court. The work of the court will proceed, whether or not they participate,” Greenidge told the students.

Greenidge’s position is one held by the ICJ. According to the international court, if there are preliminary objections challenging its competence to decide on the merits of the case on the basis that it lacks jurisdiction or the application is inadmissible, it has the responsibility to decide on the way forward. “Failure by one party to appear does not prevent the proceedings from taking their course, although the court must first satisfy itself that it has jurisdiction,” the ICJ explained.

Greenidge said the Government of Guyana is confident of a win against Venezuela in both cases – the jurisdictional matter and the substantive matter treating with the validity of the Arbitral Award of 1899.