— urges peaceful resolution of border controversy through ICJ

BRAZILIAN Foreign Minister, Ernesto Araújo, has reaffirmed his country’s support for Guyana and called for a peaceful resolution through the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the border controversy with neighbouring Venezuela.  Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd, on Friday, met virtually with his Brazilian counterpart to brief him on recent actions taken by Venezuela against Guyana, in particular, the recent decree issued by Venezuela.  He emphasised Guyana’s position, which is for a peaceful resolution to the controversy and further conveyed President Ali’s stance of relying on the International Court of Justice for a solution to the matter. Minister Araújo reiterated that his government did not recognise the validity of the decree as it was issued by an “illegitimate government”. Brazil also views such actions from the Venezuelan regime as troubling.  The two ministers took the opportunity to reiterate their commitment to cooperation in the developmental areas recently discussed during the visit of Minister Araújo to Guyana in November 2020.

At the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Commonwealth Heads committed their full support for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as the means to be used for the settlement of the border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela.
On June 30, 2020, Guyana, in its virtual presentation in the Arbitral Award of October 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela) case said that not only is Venezuela’s current interpretation of the Geneva Agreement illogical and erroneous, but also in stark contrast to the interpretation the Spanish-speaking country had when it signed the very agreement in February 1966.
Represented by a battery of international lawyers, Guyana said the agreement, in unambiguous terms, empowered the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General to determine an appropriate resolution mechanism to enable a peaceful settlement, which is the ICJ.

Guyana is seeking to obtain a final and binding judgement that the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the location of the land boundary between then British Guiana and Venezuela, remains valid, and that the Essequibo region belongs to Guyana, and not Venezuela.
Most recently, the ICJ on December 18, 2020, ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear the Guyana, Venezuela border controversy case.
It was reported that Guyana is confident that the international court will resolve the issue in its favour and that this will also settle the issue of maritime rights in the adjacent sea and seabed. But, under international law, this is now for the ICJ to decide.
Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, in a recent statement, urged that the process now underway at the ICJ must be respected.
This judicial process is also supported by CARICOM as the regional bloc believes that it is intended to bring a peaceful and definitive end to the long-standing controversy between the two countries. Canada and the US have also called on Venezuela to respect this judicial process.