THE International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a recent judgement on preliminary objections raised by Venezuela in the case concerning the Arbitral Award of October 3, 1899 (Guyana vs. Venezuela), has re-affirmed its jurisdiction to hear the case.

This is indeed a positive development for Guyana, which over several decades consistently objected to the spurious and unsubstantiated claims to nearly two-thirds of its territory by its western neighbour.

It will be recalled that Venezuela filed preliminary objections to the admissibility of Guyana’s application to the court to determine the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award on June 2022.
In the oral hearings which were conducted from 17 to 22 November 2022, Venezuela contended that the United Kingdom is an indispensable third party to the case, which should not be allowed to proceed in its absence.

Guyana had argued that the United Kingdom is not indispensable because it has no legal interests that would be affected by a judgement the validity of the Arbitral Award of October 3, 1899, which fixed the boundary between British Guyana and Venezuela, or any interests in the boundary itself, such interests having terminated in May of 1966, upon Guyana’s independence’.
This is the second time the ICJ has rejected jurisdictional objections raised by Venezuela. In December 2020, the Court overruled Venezuela’s objections by a vote of 12-4. In June 2022, Venezuela raised a new objection which was again rejected.

This most recent ruling disposed that objection and now requires Venezuela to submit its written pleadings on the merits of the case, that is on the validity of the Arbitral Award and the International boundary that it established.

In a statement, President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali said that Guyana remains confident that its longstanding international boundary with Venezuela will be confirmed by the court.
According to the Guyanese President, Guyana has always been fully committed to a peaceful resolution of the dispute with its neighbour and sister Republic in accordance with international law.

That is why, after attempting unsuccessfully to achieve a diplomatic solution through talks mediated by the United Nations Secretary-General over more than two decades, Guyana brought the matter to the International Court of Justice for a final and biding determination.

All member states of the United Nations, including Guyana and Venezuela are obligated under the United Nations Charter to comply with the Court’s binding judgements.
President Ali took the opportunity to thank the country’s legal team, agents and all stakeholders, indeed all Guyanese, for their continued commitment and outstanding work as the country proceed with the matter at the ICJ.

The judgement by the International Court of Justice was welcomed by the Guyana Government, the political opposition, key stakeholders; indeed by the Guyanese people as a whole.
Guyanese have demonstrated that when it comes to our national sovereignty and territorial integrity, there is complete and full unity. All Guyanese look forward with confidence to a full and final resolution of the matter in Guyana’s favour, which hopefully is now on the horizon.